Hey there!
Tool here — just your average mixed race Pueto Rican, millennial, Jewish, Catholic (Cashew), goth, socialist here from NYC. Feel free to discount my voice if you want but I'm often right in my political analysis! My black clothing and eyeliner isn't the same as having black skin but I get the side eye from cops and white people all the same for looking different, being poor, and of course looking absolutely fabulous in my LGBT dominated sub culture. I'm used to being on the outside and I'm ok with it!
I’d like to use this opportunity to discuss a hot topic that I've seen come up from time to time in these parts recently. From the title you may discern that the topic of conversation is one Mr. Cory Booker who has been both demonized and lionized on this blog. Rightfully so liberals have been on the fence about Booker given his penchant for running in 2020.
I am not neutral in this conversation nor do I wish to give the impression of impartially. I am against Booker running for president and I'm chiming in early and giving fair warning that if the current political establishment gets behind Booker then the grass roots will revolt against him far worse than the kid gloves Clinton was treated with in the primary.
Why? (You may ask.)
Let’s be frank. For all intent and purpose Senator Booker looks great on paper. He's young, a poc, good looking, has a media savvy personality, mildly liberal and is a great advocate for all things Cory Booker. He's been hailed as the next Obama. Especially, after his riveting 2016 convention speech.
In the Senate his votes have been pretty consistent. If he wants the nomination badly enough, he'll be able to get it I believe.
Why all the Booker hate you see around here?
You see, if the Democratic Party was made up of white collar workers, lobbyist groups, and the rich than Booker would be a shoe in. Sadly, teachers, educators, and blue collar folks also have a voice (however diminished) in the state Booker is from (NJ), and the majority of those people don't like him.
Why? That's a complex issue but most of the dislike over Booker stems from his time as mayor of Newark.
WASHINGTON -- As mayor of Newark, Cory Booker joined Betsy DeVos on the board of Alliance for School Choice, which advocated using taxpayer dollars for charter, private and religious schools.
He's known her for years.
No big deal right? Booker went on to vote against Devos in that razor thin confirmation where our VP had to break the confirmation deadlock for the first time in our republics history.That makes him a good egg right? A team player? Someone on our side?
Well, the fact that he voted against her came as a shock to many, like me, who have followed Bookers political career since 2006. It doesn't take a genius to see political calculation and self serving interest when it smacks you directly in the face.
Booker once said:
I cannot ever stand up and stand against a parent having options, because I benefited from my parents having options. And when people tell me they’re against school choice, whether it’s the Opportunity Scholarship Act or charter schools, I look at them and say: “As soon as you’re telling me you’re willing to send your kid to a failing school in my city, or in Camden or Trenton, then I’ll be with you.” . . . I am going to fight for the freedom and the liberty and the choice and the options of my people, in the same way you will defend that right for yourself.
Now, that sounds all righteous right? He's really just standing up for people that don't want to send their children to schools that are mandated by federal law to accept all children, even those from the poors and special needs children that Charter schools for some reason won't accept.
Booker’s tenure as mayor of Newark was one where Chris Christie gave the man more control over Newarks school system because he liked the direction Booker was going after the state took most of the cities power over school management away in 1996 due to bout of corruption and reports showing failing schools. Does that sound like a good idea? Much of what Booker accomplished in Newark was aided by the organization that Devos funded and sat as a board member on. Do those sound like the allies of public school teachers? The Democratic Party has recently not been a great ally to public school teachers.
My partner of 10 years teaches in the Bronx — I've worked in education for 12 years now with special needs students. We know all about those churn and burn Columbia graduates that come into a school right eyed and full of neo liberal educational thought. I mean, when I worked for a private school doing ABA the teachers voted themselves out of their own union since they were sold on the idea that the union was holding them back and they would have more choice. How did that turn out? Horrible retention, high turn over, and a squashing of most union activity.
When “choice” is used as the reason for people to accept dramatically differ standards, it often works in favor of those in power.
Well, Booker is a school choice proponent which makes his vote against Devos seem opportunistic rather than heroic.
Enough! Ok! You get it! Booker isn't liked by teachers unions and blue collars like me. Is there anything else you smarmy goth millennial got against Booker?
Isn’t there that whole Wall Street thing? Yes, Booker has garnered more money from Wall Street backed firms than any sitting U.S senator. That includes republicans.
But! But! That's where those industries are based so of course it makes sense that those "individuals"in those industries are making entirely individual choices in how to allocate their money. To an extent that is true. Industries are made up of individuals like corporations and those individuals, regardless of how much they give can't possibly influence the votes of Booker.
That’s the rub. When presented with a clear choice against going against the Health Insurance lobby to vote for cheaper Canadian drug imports — Booker voted with the insurance companies to maintain the block on drugs. His reasoning was laughable. It's even more crazy that we have to consider importing generic drugs since our own cost controls are insane and make no sense to the rest of the world.
From the intercept:
www.google.com/...
BERNIE SANDERS INTRODUCED a very simple symbolic amendment Wednesday night, urging the federal government to allow Americans to purchase pharmaceutical drugs from Canada, where they are considerably cheaper. Such unrestricted drug importation is currently prohibited by law.
The policy has widespread support among Americans: one Kaiser poll taken in 2015 found that 72 percent of Americans are in favor of allowing for importation. President-elect Donald Trump also campaigned on a promise to allow for importation.
The Senate voted down the amendment 52-46, with two senators not voting. Unusually, the vote was not purely along party lines: 13 Republicans joined Sanders and a majority of Democrats in supporting the amendment, while 13 Democrats and a majority of Republicans opposed it.
One of those Democrats was New Jersey’s Cory Booker, who is considered a rising star in the party and a possible 2020 presidential contender.
So this was Bookers big chance to try and get the Bernie crowd: IE: a ton of people under 45 on his side and Booker couldn't bring himself to do the right thing. I don't know about you but I can't read a newspaper without hearing about how someone died from those generic Canadian drugs! It's also the thing that many people rightly here called corruption and is the most recent Booker betrayal.
Anything else you got against Booker you lazy, two job working millennial? (You might ask)
Well, there is also the fact that Booker has also been a major proponent of expanding the surveillance state and increasing the spying power of the police. I mean, what could BLM, Occupy, or any other social justice group have to fear from that!? It's not like the police have a horrible record of abusing their toys!
From Bloomberg:
www.bloomberg.com/...
The surveillance system is the centerpiece of Mayor Cory Booker's ambitious plan to use cutting-edge technologies to slash Newark's violent crime rate. This August, Newark finished its initial deployment of 111 cameras, adding 76 to the 35 that were in place last summer. Newark is investing in a whole range of tools, everything from mundane PCs to more novel technologies such as a new citywide broadband wireless network that will let cops fill out police reports from their squad cars instead of schlepping back to the station house. By late fall, Newark expects to complete the deployment of an audio sensor system to pinpoint gunshot locations that cameras fail to catch. "We are trying to leave the Flintstones and get to the Jetsons," says Booker.
So the guy is for expanding the security state, dismantling public schools in favor of private and has a pronounced voting record that shows (like all of congress) that Booker puts the interests of his own wealthy class before anyone else's. That's your standard neoliberal. Oh shit. I got through this entire piece with only mentioning neoliberal once and I didn't say oligarchy or corporatism. Something must be off with my reasoning today! Neoliberalism, is by definition when you seek market based solutions to public problems and believe that the private sector, rather than the public sector, can service people better. The robber barons of the 1800’s thought the very same thing with their company towns and stores. Oddly, both Bookers ideas and the barons of old resulted in a massively indebted class.
So — you wanna defend Booker? Fine. Let's have that conversation. If you think his testimony over Session was compelling, well that's on you. When I watched it with an open mind I saw nothing but crocodile tears and self serving aggrandizement.
So other Dailykos peoples: Do you like Charter schools more than Public? Do you believe that we should trade our freedoms for a little bit of good old fashioned mass surveillance? Do you think demoxrats should shun teachers unions even more than they do?
Sometimes we can meet people half way on their ideas. Are any of Bookers worth liberals adopting? Are any of his actions worth defending? If Booker is going to be groomed for 2020 then these are some very real questions our party must confront. We saw how 45% of the base reacted to a democratic candidate they thought was beholden to Wall Street. I'm pretty confident it will be the same this time if the party can't shake its addiction to money and putting gauzy platitude in place over solutions