May 24, 2012--What's Fair Is Fair

The Obama camp has their pants in a bunch. Because of what Newark mayor Cory Booker said on Meet the Press last weekend. He really stepped in it. Probably ruining his own political future and seriously denting the ulta-controlled Obama campaign.

In case you missed it here's what Obama-supporter Booker said:

I have to just say, from a very personal level, I’m not about to sit here and indict private equity. To me, it’s just 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’ve done a lot to support businesses, to grow businesses. And this to me, I’m very uncomfortable with. 

The last point I’ll make is this kind of stuff is nauseating to me on both sides. It’s nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough. Stop attacking private equity. Stop attacking Jeremiah Wright.

His comments about Bain Capital not only are already being featured in ads for Mitt Romney, but they are undermining the Obama attack on Romney's self-proclaimed primary asset--at Bain he created jobs while Obama, in the White House, failed to do so.

Romney doesn't want to talk about being governor of Massachusetts, where under his leadership tens of thousands of jobs were lost (Massachusetts ranked 47th out of 50 states in job creation during his tenure) but he does want to tout his Bain experience.

Obama's people will remind us about Massachusetts, but Obama himself, and Joe Biden, are enjoying taking shots at Romney's time at Bain.

Now they have to deal with what Booker said. Some of this includes moaning about how "unfair" it is for Romeny to be jumping all over the mayor's comments. He isn't running for president, right? So why make a big deal over what he said?

But aren't Booker and what he said fair political game? After all, he had been anointed by the Obama campaign as one of their designated surrogates. He's urban, he's cool, he is (was) a rising star in the Democratic Party, and of course his a crossover African American who appeals as much to white people as black folks.

This complaining about how Romney's campaign is being unfair fails to mention that they has hitherto been gleeful about running ads with video of what Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich said about Romney during the primary race. Why is it OK for them to do that while out of the other side of their mouths decrying Romney's doing the same thing?

I see little difference. Just hypocrisy.