Cory Booker by Nancy Ohanian-by EmorejThe 1st miracle of the 2016 Bernie-supporting (& Stein-voting) Rosario Dawson has been to enable Cory Booker to sound sincere, in saying:
"I’m very lucky to be in a relationship with someone who is just so incredibly special, but more importantly has taught me so much in a very short period of time… an incredible human being… She really has this nurturing spirit.”
A 2nd miracle would be for Rosario (39) to teach Booker (49) the following:1. Booker’s entry into the 2020 Presidential campaign was exceptionally stupid.2. Much worse than the widely recognized 2020 stupidity of Joe Biden, which is mitigated slightly by factors such as this being Biden’s last chance before being prevented by the aging of his body, mind, and image as Obama’s Vice President. In contrast, Booker can run any time in the next 25+ years, during which the Rosario-improved mature Booker might make us forget the [expletive deleted] immature Booker.3. Why did Booker say it was “disgusting” for Obama’s 2012 campaign against Mitt Romney to “demonize private equity”? Because Booker’s entire life (until he launched his political career by invading a slum of Newark NJ) has been in the bubble of the Ivy League track, sharing experiences and acculturation with rich White peers-- many of whom, presumably, Booker enabled to feel ‘not racist because some of my best friends are… educated ‘hardworking’ Blacks like Cory.’ In contrast, Obama only got a foot in the Ivy League after a childhood among economically and culturally diverse communities, and didn’t get two feet in until law school.4. 2020 nominee Booker would be the perfect foil for Trump to double down on his basic political strategy of seeking to combine:
(a) deep support from White racists, with(b) shallower support from people enraged that Ivy League-flavored Wall Street-centered elites’ longstanding economic and political dominance is increasingly incompetent and deaf to voters’ demands for change.
5. Trump is also well-equipped to mock Booker (truthfully-- for a change) for:
(a) the suspiciousness of Booker getting along too well with the local political machines in New Jersey, where they are nearly the archetype of corruption (which Trump knows from his NJ casino experience), and(b) the cowardice of Booker having ducked the opportunity to challenge then-popular Republican Governor Chris Christie in favor of preparing to primary an aging Democrat (imagine the dramatically overweight Christie’s speaking tour message “Stanford football player Cory is a wimp who was scared of me…”).
6. The only real questions about Booker 2020 are:
(a) when will he drop out, and(b) which candidate will he endorse?Rosario probably cannot persuade Booker to endorse Bernie, but it would be big news if she could persuade him to refrain from making the obvious favor-earning endorsement of Kamala Harris. This would be a huge slap in the face for Kamala’s message that ‘now is time for a second Black and first woman President.’
7. Booker’s youth gives him more to lose than most of the many people whose reputations will forever bear the stain of having participated in the 2020 anybody-but-Bernie conspiracy, which is going to be a very dirty marathon. Rosario probably knows this better than most of us, and she is the one person equipped to give Booker an easy escape and reboot opportunity. At the extreme, Booker could give up his Senate seat in order to stay at Rosario’s side during a few pregnancies and joint-parenting projects, which could make him into:
(a) a man who doesn’t just talk the talk of “love” (Booker’s favorite word), and(b) an eventual Presidential candidate who had learned how to (like Bernie) wait for his moment, and hopefully to transcend his early opportunism, narcissism and stupidity.