Cory Booker has just announced that he is dropping out of the presidential race. He explained:
I got in this race to win, and I’ve always said I wouldn’t continue if there was no longer a path to victory. Our campaign has reached the point where we need more money to scale up and continue building a campaign that can win — money we don’t have, and money that is harder to raise because I won’t be on the next debate stage and because the urgent business of impeachment will rightly be keeping me in Washington.
With Booker and Kamala Harris out, the only remaining African-American is Deval Patrick. His campaign is so hopeless that some readers might not know he is running. Very few Americans do.
Race mongers may be unhappy about the lack of African-American candidates, but black Democrats probably aren’t. Their candidate is Joe Biden, with Bernie Sanders as the second choice.
I never expected Booker to be the nominee, but I thought he’d make a stronger showing than he did. He’s an impressive speaker and, more than anyone else in the field, seemed like an heir to Barack Obama.
This wasn’t just a matter of race, although that certainly was part of it. Obama was a member of a state champion high school basketball team and a president of the Harvard Law Review. Booker played football for Stanford and was a Rhodes scholar.
Obama was a local activist in Chicago. Booker was an activist in Newark, and became that city’s mayor.
Both served in the Senate. Both have real presence on the stage. Both can weave a compelling yarn.
So why didn’t Booker gain traction? I’m not sure.
I have heard left-wing Democrats complain about his ties to Wall Street. Maybe that was a factor.
Booker is also less adept than Obama at faking sincerity. His trademark hand over heart doesn’t get the job done. If anything, it seems like a “tell.”
Perhaps there is a sense of “been there, done that” when it comes to Obama. However, I have to think that if Booker had fit the Obama bill better than he did, he would easily be in the mix for the nomination.
Booker can now devote his full attention to the Senate trial of President Trump. That’s unfortunate because Booker will undoubtedly use that stage to grandstand and distort.
Indeed, unless we’re lucky, he will invent. Booker excels at that.
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