Media Spotlight Shows Cracks in Character, Says Cory Booker (VIDEO)
Cory Booker kicked off the Democratic National Convention Tuesday as one of the two main speakers of the day; the other being First Lady Michelle Obama.
In May, Booker’s criticism of President Obama’s attacks on Bain Capital caused a firestorm among both Democrats and Republicans. The Newark, N.J., said on “Meet the Press” that he found the criticisms of Bain Capital, Mitt Romney’s former private equity firm, “nauseating.” He later clarified that he is not against Obama, and that Bain Capital is fair game, and that there was never any big fight between himself and the Obama campaign over his remarks. Watch Booker talk to genConnect about the powers and pitfalls of social media in politics, and what it’s like being a politician in a 24-hour media spotlight:
Many in America have high expectations for our politicians, yet scandal after scandal diminishes those expectations. What can we do to prevent this?
“We are humanity and every sector of society – business people, teachers – we all have people who slip, who fall down,” Booker told genConnect. “Politicians are much more in the spotlight now. I won’t go through a day where I’m not being recorded or being on TV multiple times during the day. In that kind of media spotlight, the cracks in my character will often be seen in a much more dramatic way. We need to have high expectations for our politicians and one another, but we need not to think that when one person falls, it should cast a shadow over all those other people who are struggling to live up to expectations and exceed them.”
WATCH: Cory Booker on Education – ‘We’re Wasting Potential’
In response to media criticism, Booker made headlines in May for making the following comments about Bain Capital:
“I’m not about to sit here and indict private equity. To me, we’re getting to a ridiculous point in America. Especially that I know I live in a state where pension funds, unions and other people are investing in companies like Bain Capital. If you look at the totality of Bain Capital’s record, they have done a lot to support businesses to grow businesses and this to me, I’m very comfortable,” Booker said on “Meet the Press.” “This kind of stuff is nauseating to me on both sides. It’s nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough.”
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