Cory Booker’s got a gay problem that some in his camp think is a kind of weight around his campaign for Senate. And no, it’s not making the ones concerned happy. It’s not that they have anything against any homosexual in politics, and many of the people I’m blogging about openly backed Tammy Baldwin’s run to become the first openly Lesbian Senator in U.S. History (me too), but what concerns them is that Booker’s being defined by others and by the Internet, and not by himself.
Want proof?
As of this writing, a Google search for Cory Booker reveals that “cory booker gay” is the number two most searched term of all terms concerning him, and that includes “cory booker senate” and “cory booker mayor”.
The idea that Cory Booker was gay was given more heat when his campaign representative failed to give a definitive answer about his boss’ sexual orientation. And the waffling caused blogs and bloggers to have fun with the rumor, which didn’t help Booker’s online reputation one bit, and contributed greatly to the ‘search problem’ Booker’s had to deal with ever since he allowed his sexual status to become an issue by not actively working to get himself a steady girlfriend or wife.
Look, we all know Power is an aphrodisiac, so it raises eyebrows and wags tongues when the male mayor of a major city like Newark, New Jersey doesn’t have a main female squeeze by his side, let alone a wife. It raises too many weird questions, like did you have a girlfriend? In fact, Booker actually did have a girlfriend, and not just any main squeeze, the girlfriend was a Super-model: Veronica Webb.
The search for “cory booker girlfriend” is as much about who he’s with and what happened to Webb, as it is about his sexual orientation. But, for whatever reason, Cory Booker has not made getting a woman to his side and keeping her there a major objective.
That is a mistake.
It’s a mistake because, with all of the image problems black men still face, even with President Obama in office, the last thing we need is yet one more brother who sends a message that he’s not available to, and therefore not sympathetic to, women, and especially to black women. I’m not saying his girlfriend has to be black, but she does have to be a she, because any woman who openly supports him wants to see that he’s at least able to be with someone like her – to relate to her. His high regard for, and company with, women is a large reason for Barack Obama’s popularity.
And women like President Obama because they like Michelle Obama. Take a look at this reaction to the First Lady when she came out in her new look, with bangs, at the 2013 Inauguration:
If Cory Booker wants to reach Barack Obama’s level, as I accused him of wanting to in this video…
…he’s got to sort out this girlfriend problem.
Tweeting with a stripper’s a start, but Booker’s got to rise to a higher level than social media and porn stars.
I think Kate Upton’s available.
Stay tuned.