As Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., ponders his political future, Shakespeare’s Hamlet may be ringing in his head: “To be, or not to be, that is the question.”
Booker is often mentioned as a rising star in the Senate, although his legislative accomplishments to date have been lackluster at best. Less than a year ago, Booker teamed up with Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to sponsor legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal to those brave civil rights pioneers who marched at great peril from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery, to press for passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. When he spoke of Sessions at a joint press event in February 2016, Booker said:
This is truly one of my life’s greatest moments. I am humbled to be able to participate here and pay tribute to some of the extraordinary Americans whose footsteps paved the way for me and my generation. I feel blessed and honored to have partnered with Sen. Sessions in being the Senate sponsors of this important award.
What a difference a year makes. Following the devastating 2016 election in which Democrats were unceremoniously swept from office at all levels of government, the party found itself without a standard bearer to rally behind in the run up to the 2020 presidential election cycle.
Until Wednesday, that is. Booker became the first senator to ever testify against a Senate colleague’s nomination for the Cabinet.
That Booker, a relatively new and inexperienced senator from the minority party, would publicly assail a senior senator from the majority is surprising in and of itself. But for Booker to do so because of his so-called concerns regarding Sessions’ temperament on race and civil rights is appalling. If Sessions is the bigot and racist that Booker implies he is, why did he co-sponsor the Congressional Gold Medal to award to participants in one of the most famous events of the civil rights era less than a year ago?
I suspect that most of the 100 members of the Senate awake each morning, look into the mirror and find themselves looking at someone who should be the next president. While few act on such lofty aspirations, Booker took a bold move to separate himself from oft-mentioned potential candidates such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., or Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. That Booker would make his move based not on substance or legislative accomplishment but instead by playing the race card illustrates the depths to which the Democratic Party has recently descended.
Booker’s lack of introspection is stunning. Democrats lost in large measure as they were seen to favor one group of Americans while condescending and looking down on others who were not worthy of their attention. That Democrats have largely been relegated to hold elective office on the East and West coasts that cultural elites hold so dear is revealing in their inability to win over a majority of their fellow Americans.
Democrats would be wise to recognize that the race card has been maxed out over the past eight years of the Obama administration. For Democrats to succeed in the days ahead they must chart a positive message and vision as to why they should be given the honor and trust to hold elective office.
Given the performance by Booker on Wednesady, Democrats have much to learn as they seek to regain direction in the political wilderness where they currently reside.
Ron Christie is a former special assistant to President George W. Bush, and the author of “Blackwards: How Black Leadership is Returning America to the Days of Separate But Equal.” Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
