Based upon the “ideal Democratic candidate” resume, this could have been Corey Booker’s year. He’s tall, black, handsome, athletic, overflowing with testosterone (by his own admission), a Stanford graduate, a Rhodes scholar, a Yale law graduate, and the holder of impeccable Progressive political credentials. He isn’t gay or female, but he’s sufficiently ambiguous (Is he gay? Is he straight?) that neither sexuality nor gender should have been a problem. On paper, he’s like Obama and Clinton rolled into one. So what happened? Corey Booker happened. He shows the problem with a political party that pins its hopes on external markers of diversity and on an obeisance to educational credentials. On paper, the guy looks great, but in fact, there’s no “there there.” The problems started when Booker was Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. In the beginning, at least according to a loving media, it all seemed so good. He had those...(Read Full Post)