Is racism a subtext in all these attacks on Cory Booker?

[Karmadillo]

Why the ferocity? Is a successful, Stanford-educated African-American too much for some Americans? Wasn't Booker just following the lead of the president in defending the free-market system?

http://baselinescenario.com/2010/02/10/president-obama-on-ceo-compensation-at-too-big-to-fail-banks/

President Obama On CEO Compensation At Too Big To Fail Banks
Posted on February 10, 2010 by Simon Johnson | 104 Comments

Bloomberg today reports President Obama as commenting on the $17 million bonus for Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase and the $9 million bonus for Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs,

“I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen,”

and

““I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free- market system.”

<edit>

This is the antithesis of a free-market system. Not only were their banks saved by government action in 2008-09 but the overly generous nature of this bailout (details here) means that the playing field is now massively tilted in favor of these banks. (I put this to Gerry Corrigan of Goldman and Barry Zubrow of JP Morgan when we appeared before the Senate Banking Committee last week; there was no effective rejoinder.)

more..

[matt819]

1. I don't think so

I think he was misguided in his comments, and I can't help but question why he made them, tu I just don't get the sense of a racial component.

[BeyondGeography]

2. Thanks for the laugh

[Dawson Leery]

3. No. Booker claims to be a Democrat while defending vulture capitalism.

What we see now is that Cory is being funded by these vulture capitalist. Conflict of interest.

[LeftyMom]

4. Oh, please.

[Pirate Smile]

5. No

[unkachuck]

6. traitorism is the subtext, in an era when every word counts....the Prez is a master of context...n/t

[enough]

7. Perhaps stupidity and pandering is a subtext in Booker's remarks.

That false equivalency, "both sides do it," idiocy is stupid and destructive no matter the race of the person who's doing it.

[cthulu2016]

8. Too much for some Americans?

The anger is all coming from people who desperately want a very successful and highly educated black man to be re-elected as President of the United States.

Obama is not too much for this American and I would like to see a lot more of him, thank you very much.

[Booster]

13. Yep, what you said. Booker got exactly what he wanted out of this: publicity & kissing the ass of

the money people. He did that and it makes no difference what his color is, he's an asshole & they all are the same color.

[AtomicKitten]

9. ROFL. Darcy Richardson 2012!

[spanone]

10. it's his bald head.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Major Hogwash]

21. You win a cookie.

I knew someone was going to mention it.

[spanone]

25. ask a silly question.....

[jp11]

11. No you have it backwards racism is the subtext for all the attacks on President Obama by

the conservatives and right wing extremists. You see it is too much for them that a smart black man is the president of the United States, more than that a Black Man beat out an old White Man. Furthermore they are so incensed by their racist hatred they need to believe he is some kind of evil mastermind bent on their very destruction. So deluded they are they don't see what he actually has done or wants to do but what their own fear addled minds conjure up from coming after their guns to turning the country into a socialist state.

Mayor Booker is being 'attacked' because he stabbed the president in the back while wearing a 2012 Obama pin on his lapel. Supposedly he was working to re-elect President Obama and he just became part of attacking the president's re-election strategy calling Romney out on his record.

I can understand the mayor feeling sympathy/pressure from equity firms that might invest in his city or pay him money or whatever he's into but to say the the valid criticism of Romeny's 'experience' as a 'job creator' while at Bain is 'too much' and 'enough is enough' is asinine.

[CakeGrrl]

12. Um, no.

How about "Another Dem makes stupid move to help Republicans on national TV?"

That simple.

[one_voice]

14. ....

[socialist_n_TN]

15. Nah. The "ferocity" about Booker is because..........

HE'S A FUCKING CAPITALIST TOADY.

[hifiguy]

29. We have a winner!

Shilling for the likes of Bain means he is no real Democrat at his core.

[Drunken Irishman]

34. Pretty much...

He's bought and paid for by Bain and its cronies.

[RZM]

16. No. Not at all

But there's a whole lot to talk about in your headline, even though it's completely wrong.

Booker made a positive statement about Bain and private equity in general. That's going to result in a temporary stay in the doghouse and a mark on his permanent record here on DU. Doesn't matter who says it - that's not going to be received well here.

What's interesting about your post is that it exposes the silly way in which race and racism is brought up nowadays. The most common way race is used on the left is as a bludgeoning instrument against one's opponents. Hence the constant attention to race with regards to the Tea Party (which is overdone, IMO). An accusation of racism carries with it profound social power. The damage it can inflict is substantial, but the potential blowback from false accusations is not - therefore, it pays to use it as much as possible. I'm not an expert in accounting/economics, but in politics, racism accusations might be characterized as having a good cost/benefit ratio. The potential gains far outweigh the potential risks.

What's funny is that you're insinuating a very thin charge of racism against the same people that do just that against their own opponents. So it does have a bit of that goose/gander thing to it. But in the end, it's still bullshit. I'd bet not a single DUer is hating on Booker because he's black. They are hating on him because he said something they don't like. While I don't think it's exactly accurate to say DU is colorblind, I think it is here. Anybody who said what Booker did would be pilloried here. Booker neither gets a pass for his race, nor does he get extra scorn because of it. He's being treated just as anybody else would be in the court of DU opinion. And therein lies the lesson. Because I've argued from day one that this is the same dynamic going on with the right. Most of them don't hate Obama because he's black . . . they hate him because he's a Democrat, just like they hated both Clintons, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, John Kerry, and every other white Democrat out there.

[KamaAina]

17. No. Not in all of them.

Mostly in the ones comparing Booker to Harold Ford, Jr.

[bigtree]

18. I think that applying race to the complaints about Booker's nonsense is your doing here

. . . more than it's anyone else's.

[HiPointDem]

19. i think it's more because a black democrat that owed the first black president knifed him instead.

the corporate thing is par for politicians generally.

[cthulu2016]

20. Not racism, but there could be a racial component

The implication that an appreciable number of DUers attacking Booker want to bring down a strong black man are absurd.

But yes, his race probably does matter insofar as there may be a heightened expectation that he would have Obama's back, and a heightened expectation that he should have a better understanding of what the Republicans are about.

And to some his race may matter on the other side of the scale... that as a rising black star his career is too precious to disregard just because he's a F'ing tool.

In a nation that thinks in terms of race there is always a racial subtext.

But a racial subtext is not, in and of itself, racism.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

22. Well that was silly.

[geek tragedy]

23. Heh. Predictable as always. nt

[cali]

37. ingenuous the way he managed to take Booker's side against the President

slimy, sickening and obvious to anyone familiar with the op, but ingenuous.

[Ikonoklast]

42. The OP must agree with Booker's opinions on Bain.

Never heard of a Socialist that defended water carriers for vulture capitalists before.

[Logical]

24. Do yourself a favor and self delete ths!

[JI7]

26. hahahha

[Ikonoklast]

27. Is trying to make this about racism racist itself?

Or is the amount of deflection away from the real issue, which for you is anyone attacking this president, even a Bain Capital toadie like Booker, is OK in your book?

See the thread with the amounts of money funneled into DINO Booker's re-election campaign.

[politicasista]

28. He opened up a can of sting worms

on the man he was supposed to be surrogating for.

[flamingdem]

30. No. He either has poor analytical skills or

he's a backstabber. Both mean a limited future. At least with the dems.

[Iggo]

31. No.

[provis99]

32. I guess defending Obama against a Booker attack makes one a racist...

[Swamp Lover]

33. no

enough already

[cali]

35. no, but trust you to post such dog shit.

I wonder if you'll make it through election season. Are you planning to vote for President Obama?

[ananda]

36. No.

I think it's just the reverse.

It looks as though the elitists wish to put a Black face on their policies and tactics
as tokens for street cred or something.

[battchief]

38. Just Competence

This is about Competence 101.

Booker was on as a surrogate, with his "surrogate notes". Any job, low to high, requires one thing: ability to execute. Booker, Stanford educated, Rhodes Scholar, Yale Law grad failed to just do what he was there to do.

He wasn't on to speak for Cory Booker. He had been given the high honor of speaking for the President of the United States. He didn't state something the President could embrace, no matter how grudgingly (Scarborough says the VP staff is persona non grata). He objected to the presidents judgment, publicly; rank insubordination. Booker's a politician. He rebuked the head of his own party, publicly. Why's he tryin' to change the rules? Because another brother's in the white house?

Booker had a 10 minute job to do. He failed. Not only that, but his failure to realize what he later said he did, in the moment; his false equivalence between Jeremiah Wright (under what circumstances should an Obama surrogate volunteer that name) and Romney's Bain record begs the question of his judgment and or his intellect. We know he's not stupid. He's got the papers to prove it. So he was just wrong, emphatically.

When the president gives you a job, you do it. If you don't feel you can, run yourself or support someone else.

[JoePhilly]

39. Hope you took dramamine before spinning like that ... might make you puke.

[FSogol]

40. Fail!

[Enrique]

41. it depends whether their criticism of the Democrats is consistent

I do see some singling out. I recently watched that whole Meet the Press and heard Dick Durbin say he agrees with the premise of Paul Ryan's deficit reduction plan. Why no outrage about that?

[ibegurpard]

43. No

Are they both corporate shills when it comes to action?
Perhaps, but I'd sure as hell rather be supporting the one who's actually using his position to be stating criticisms of the disgusting level of corporate dominance of our political system.