An “uncomfortable” conversation with Cory Booker

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, News, News Commentary, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.5 • 11.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2020

⏱️ 89 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There is a moral radicalism to the way Cory Booker lives out his politics. He lived for years in a housing project. He leads hunger strikes. He challenges political machines. He’s a vegan. He has a more ambitious policy vision than is often discussed. But beneath that is a far more radical ethical vision than he gets credit for. I think there’s a reason for that. When Booker turns his politics turn outward, they lose clarity. He shies away from drawing bright lines, his answers double back to blur out potential offense. As a result, his arguments for a politics of radical love end up emphasizing his love in ways that obscure his radicalism. As admiring as I am of what Booker demands of himself, I often can’t tell what he’s asking of me. In this conversation, I wanted Booker to risk my discomfort, not just his own. And in his answers, I think you can hear both the remarkable promise and power of Booker’s politics, and some of the challenges that ultimately led him to suspend his campaign. References/Book recommendations: Tightrope by Nicholas Kristof “Who Killed the Knapp Family” by Nicholas Kristof The Violence Inside Us by Chris Murphy My book is available for pre-order! You can find it at www.EzraKlein.com. Want to contact the show? Reach out at ezrakleinshow@vox.com You can subscribe to Ezra's new podcast Impeachment, explained on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or your favorite podcast app. Credits: Producer and Editor - Jeff Geld Engineer- Cynthia Gil Researcher - Roge Karma Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	We are not going to solve endemic problems unless people who those problems don't directly affect
0:06.6	begin to understand that we are all in this together.
0:22.5	Hello, welcome to Sir Clanchion, the Fox Media podcast network.
0:26.0	This is a presidential episode, but it is not, I would say, like most of my conversations with
0:31.7	presidential candidates. I've known Senator Cory Booker a long time. You hear that a bit in this
0:37.4	podcast, but my grandfather was close with him back when he was in New York City Councilman.
0:42.4	Just kind of randomly, my grandfather heard him speak at a synagogue once and just really,
0:46.4	really fell for Booker. And so he's been in my political consciousness since before I had what
0:51.4	I would even understand as a political consciousness. And something about Booker and the campaign he's
0:57.3	been running is that there is a deep radicalism to his politics, to his personal politics. People
1:05.5	talk about politics all the time, the positions they hold, the ideas they support, the tweets they
1:11.0	send. But Booker's a guy who he has lived for years in a poor community in New York. So he actually
1:18.8	lives in a community that is suffering from the problems he is trying to fix. He's not separated
1:23.3	himself personally as many, many people do. Most certainly most members of Congress do and mayors do.
1:28.8	He didn't live in the rich part of town. He's personally a vegan. He has gone on long real hunger
1:35.6	strikes. He has lived his politics with an intensity and an authenticity that I find rare. It's
1:42.5	interesting because I don't think Booker has always understood as a most authentic politician,
1:45.5	but oftentimes I think his problem is that he's too authentic. He's authentic in a way that people
1:49.6	can't quite follow him. What he's doing strikes him as an odd or unusual, which is true for people
1:55.2	who come from a deep activist mindset. Booker is interesting in the campaign to me for a lot of
2:01.1	reasons, but one is that there is almost nobody who garners as universally positive reviews for
2:07.9	his debate performances, speeches, etc. But it's failed to catch on more. He's not even qualified
	...

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