Cory Booker comments: How badly have they hurt President Obama?
How badly has Cory Booker hurt President Obama鈥檚 reelection effort? His comments on 鈥�Meet the Press鈥� over the weekend directly contradicted Democratic Party talking points, after all. The mayor of Newark, N.J., said that Obama ads attacking Bain Capital, Mitt Romney鈥檚 firm, were 鈥渘auseating.鈥� Worse, he then compared the Bain attacks to GOP efforts to link Mr. Obama with controversial pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Yes, he鈥檚 been furiously backpedaling since. But he was so far off-message with his original comments that he couldn鈥檛 even see the Democratic Party message from where he was standing. With campaign surrogates like that, who needs election opponents?
Republicans have been gleeful about this gift, the more so since a few other Democrats, including ex-Rep. Harold Ford of Tennessee and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, have echoed Mayor Booker鈥檚 defense of Bain and other private-equity firms.
鈥淭hose surrogates in speaking truth about private equity, about the free market, are a pretty brilliant piece of advertisement there that was put together,鈥� said former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Monday.
Well, presidential campaigns are giant, slow-moving weather systems, and in the end, Booker鈥檚 comments will be just a slight drop in air pressure over a few square miles, or a wind that ruffles a grove of trees. In other words, its effect on Obama鈥檚 vote will probably be undetectable. That鈥檚 true for other flaplets as well, such as the Etch A Sketch 鈥渞eset for the general election鈥� comment from a Romney adviser.
That said, an effect can be real even if it is undetectable. And at the moment, Booker appears to have damaged the Obama campaign鈥檚 efforts to define Mr. Romney in the early weeks of the general-election race. Plus, he鈥檚 done so at a time when polls show the gap between the two contenders narrowing.
In defending private-equity firms, Booker has made it harder for the Obama team to assert that Romney鈥檚 Bain record is fair game. Worse, he鈥檚 also made it easier for Romney to frame the Bain attacks as an attack on free enterprise, instead of Bain鈥檚 specific record.
Obama on Monday insisted that he鈥檚 not going after venture capitalism in general, but Romney鈥檚 stewardship of Bain. Romney has made his business experience the centerpiece of his electoral argument to the American people, said Obama, and it鈥檚 fair to look at that experience in detail.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e president, as opposed to the head of a private-equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot,鈥� Obama said in Chicago at a NATO press conference.
But Romney is responding as if Obama is putting capitalism itself in the dock, and he鈥檚 using Booker鈥檚 comments to help make his case.
鈥淧resident Obama confirmed today that he will continue his attacks on the free enterprise system, which Mayor Booker and other leading Democrats have spoken out against,鈥� said Romney in a statement Monday.
At issue here is the Obama campaign鈥檚 effort to define Romney before Romney has a chance to define himself. Reelection races are generally about the incumbent鈥檚 performance, and given the weak economy, Obama would be better off if his opponent鈥檚 record can somehow be dragged into the electoral conversation.
Right now, Obama and Romney are tied on probably the preeminent question of the election: who is better to handle the economy. That鈥檚 the finding of one new major poll, anyway. The Washington Post/ABC News survey finds voters split, 47 percent to 47 percent, over which of the November contenders can best handle economic issues.
Overall, Obama maintains a narrow 49 to 46 percent edge, .
