Booker walks back criticism of Obama campaign tactics

[No Elephants]

Booker walks back criticism of Obama campaign tactics
By Michael O'Brien

By Michael O'Brien

Newark Mayor Cory Booker released a video on Sunday emphasizing his support for President Obama's re-election after condemning some the president's re-election tactics as "nauseating."

Booker said in a video posted to YouTube that he believed it was appropriate to fully vet Mitt Romney's private sector record, clarifying his head-turning comments this morning on "Meet the Press," on which he decried the Obama campaign's attacks on Romney due to an instance in which a company acquired by Bain Capital, which Romney cofounded, ended up in bankruptcy.

"This kind of stuff is nauseating to me on both sides. It's nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough. Stop attacking private equity, stop attacking Jeremiah Wright," Booker said during a roundtable on the program, referencing also the plan mulled by a Republican super PAC to link the president to a controversial pastor.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/20/11782709-booker-walks-back-criticism-of-obama-campaign-tactics?lite



As I have already posted, in 2008, I would cringe whenever Harold Ford was supposedly representing the Democratic viewpoint on one of these shows. Is Booker going to be the Harold Ford of this Presidential campaign?

It is too bad Booker didn't get it. Romney is saying that his experience at Bain makes him more qualified to deal with this economy than Obama is. So, Obama is pointing out that Bain Capital often behaved like Gordon Gekko, namely laying off workers and selling off a company's assets. That was supposedly Romney's own behavior, not his former pastor's actions, ffs.


Romney calls this character assassination. It is not. It is refuting claims Romney is making as to his own business behavior by giving other facts about Romney's own business behavior.

It is no more "character assassination," then Romney's saying that Obama has been bad for the economy.

However, from other things said on MTP, it seemed that the Obama campaign picked the wrong company to try to make their point because Romney was long gone from Bain at the point Bain closed down that particular company.

Had I been there I would have said that the particular example may not have been chosen well, but the behavior described--buying companies to lay off workers close them down and sell off assets--was definitely a pattern with Bain when Romney was there.

Unfortunely, while identifying himself several times as "an Obama campaign surrogate" AND stating he had campaign surrogate talking points with him (geez who admits that?) Booker took Romney's side on this ad down the line.

I hope he has learned his lesson and is not in this to try to further his own agenda, which I believe Ford was. At least Ford had the excuse of coming from a very red state. Booker doesn't have that--though he did film a "cute" commercial with Christie.

I hope Booker and others who think centrism is their ticket to glory wake up soon.