Of course, the biggest prize the predators would like to take down is President Obama, and president’s so-called allies are providing ample meat for the GOP to feast on in recent days.
They are planning to use Cory Booker-Jeremiah Wright angles to weaken the incumbent. This past week, New Jersey Mayor Corey Booker said on NBC’s Meet the Press that he found some of Obama’s campaign tactics against Mitt Romney and his record at Bain Capital “nauseating.” That began a fierce feeding frenzy that the GOP — and rightfully so if you are trying to defeat the president — are using against him. Booker quickly realized the depth of the damage he has caused and has backpedaled like Michael Jackson in order to try to blunt the GOP’s efforts to use Obama’s foot soldiers to defeat his own brigade.
For his part, Booker has voiced vociferously that he is not cool with being used as a tool to beat the president’s brains out during election season. His hashtag is a direct response to a petition drive launched by the Republican National Committee titled “I Stand With Cory,” aimed at capitalizing on the mayor’s criticism.
“Here they are are plucking soundbites out of that interview to manipulate them in a cynical manner, to use them for their own purposes,” Booker said on MSNBC. “I’m very upset that I’m being used by the GOP this way.”
In his first TV interview since the flap erupted over his Bain Capital remarks, Booker told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow that he has long been in solidarity with Obama on key issues. He said he wasn’t pressured by the Obama campaign to clarify his original remarks, as he did late Sunday in a video sent to his Twitter followers, or to go on TV.
“Anybody in the GOP wants to stand with me, please stand with me. Stand with me for marriage equality, as Barack Obama stands up for,” he said. “Stand with me for not turning the clock back on women in terms of medical issues, like Barack Obama is standing again. Stand with me on making healthcare more accessible to all. Stand with me for making college more affordable as President Obama is doing.”
He is not the first Obama ally to who actually hurt the president, though it is yet to be seen how much collateral damage will be calculated until they rummage through the wreck that Booker has caused. I bet that was a very interesting conversation that the Booker and Obama camp has had since the Meet the Press statements.
Here are a few other Obama “allies” who did more harm than good for the president.
— terry shropshire
