Did Cory Booker sandbag Obama by calling the Bain attacks 'nauseating'?

The Newark mayor went on Meet the Press, purportedly to help President Obama's re-election effort. He may have done more harm than good

Newark Mayor Cory Booker speaks at a conference held by the American Federation for Children on May 4:
(Image credit: Aristide Economopoulos/Star Ledger/CORBIS)

Newark, New Jersey's action-hero mayor, Cory Booker (D), went on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday in support of President Obama, but left as the Mitt Romney campaign's favorite Democrat. While saying Obama deserves to be re-elected, he also criticized the Obama camp's attacks on Romney's career at Bain Capital. Booker said he was "uncomfortable" with both the Obama ads highlighting Bain's toll on workers and GOP plans to attack Obama over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. "This kind of stuff is nauseating to me on both sides." But he mostly focused on Bain: "I'm not about to sit here and indict private equity. If you look at the totality of Bain Capital's record, they've done a lot to support businesses — to grow businesses." (Watch video below) What was Booker thinking, and how badly did he hurt Obama?

Booker threw Obama under the bus: With just a few "careless remarks," Booker managed to undo a brilliant week of Obama messaging on Romney's destructive "vulture" capitalism, says Karoli Kuns at Crooks & Liars. Republicans are already using Booker's words to try to make Bain off-limits. But this is nothing like the "bogus" Wright revival. Romney's tenure at Bain is "one of the few quantifiable ways voters can see how he intends to approach employment issues and corporations," and why the middle class should be very wary.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up