New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker maintained his criticism that fellow Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is failing to unite the country on racial issues, during a Sunday interview on Meet the Press.
Booker took issue earlier this month with Biden’s use of the word “boy,” insisting that Biden should publicly apologize. Following weeks of further gaffes and no such apology, Booker further critiqued the 76-year-old Biden for his consistent avoidance of copping to past mistakes as a lawmaker.
Booker said, “Whoever our nominee is going to be, whoever the next president is going to be, really needs to be someone who can talk openly and honestly about race with vulnerability because none of us are perfect … I’m not sure if vice president Biden is up to that task given the way this last three weeks have played out.”
Biden, who was heavily criticized during the first 2020 Democratic debate for praising his work with segregationist senators, followed up by saying just days later saying at a Chicago event, “We’ve got to recognize that kid wearing a hoodie may very well be the next poet laureate and not a gangbanger.”
Of those remarks, Sen. Booker tweeted on Friday, “This isn’t about a hoodie. It’s about a culture that sees a problem with a kid wearing a hoodie in the first place. Our nominee needs to have the language to talk about race in a far more constructive way.”
This isn’t about a hoodie. It’s about a culture that sees a problem with a kid wearing a hoodie in the first place. Our nominee needs to have the language to talk about race in a far more constructive way. https://t.co/c2BFSSOHro
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) June 28, 2019
In a follow-up to his previous comments, Booker said Sunday, “What we’ve seen from the vice president over the last month is an inability to talk candidly about the mistakes he made, about things he could have done better, about how some of the decisions he made at the time in difficult context actually have resulted in really bad outcomes.”
Booker mentioned Biden’s record of supporting anti-busing legislation and his support of the controversial 1994 Crime Bill, and how he felt that both initiatives had a lasting, negative effect on minority communities.
He further condemned Biden’s continued unwillingness to apologize for his his past comments, saying, “Right now the vice president to me is not doing a good job at bringing folks together. In fact, he’s — and I’ve heard this from people all around the country. He’s causing a lot of frustration and even pain with his words.”
