Salon's Steve Kornacki: Cory Booker: Surrogate from Hell [View all]
Cory Booker, surrogate from hell
What Cory Booker has to gain by calling President Obamas attacks on Bain Capital nauseating
BY STEVE KORNACKI
If Cory Booker went on Meet the Press on Sunday with the intent of helping President Obama, then his appearance was an utter failure. But anyone whos followed the enormously ambitious Newark mayors career closely knows hes not one to pull a Joe Biden. Hes just too smart and too smooth to screw up so epically.
More likely, Booker went on the show to help himself and to advance his own long-term political prospects. And on that score, his appearance was a success.
Playing up Romneys Bain record is, of course, central to Obamas general election plan. Romney is running as a business-savvy job creator and relying on the publics tendency to associate private sector success with economic competence. There is no overstating how vital it is for Obama and his campaign to break that link, and to establish that Romneys real expertise is in making investors rich not adding jobs and improving the quality of life for middle class workers.
In belittling this strategy, Booker isnt just breaking with Obama, hes breaking with just about everyone whos ever run against Romney including Ted Kennedy, who used criticisms of Bains treatment of workers to pull away from Romney in their 1994 Senate race. Essentially, Kennedy created the blueprint that Obama is now using. Booker is also providing Republicans with a dream talking point: A top Obama surrogate not only disapproves of Obamas use of Bain, he finds it nauseating!
It wouldnt be surprising if Booker has already heard from the White House, and surely hes now in for a world of abuse from Obama supporters. But that hardly means he made a mistake, at least in terms of his own ambition. Financial support from Wall Street and, more broadly speaking, the investor class has been key to Bookers rise, and remains key to his future dreams.
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http://www.salon.com/2012/05/20/cory_booker_surrogate_from_hell/