Cory Booker uses DNC speech to promote inclusion and respect
![20160725-cory-booker-ap-photo-1200](https://whyy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/20160725-cory-booker-ap-photo-1200-1-768x432.jpg)
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker got a national spotlight Monday evening at the Democratic National Convention.
The 21 minute speech emphasized diversity, inclusion and love as party ideals.
In a speech that was a rebuke of political cynicism and apathy, Booker urged Democrats towards a moral high ground.
“We are not called to be a nation of tolerance. We are called to be a nation of love.Tolerance says I am just going to stomach your right to be different. That if you disappear from the face of the earth, I am no better or worse off. But love – love knows that every American has worth and value, no matter what their background, race, religion, or sexual orientation.”
William Payne, a delegate pledged to Hillary Clinton, and former New Jersey Assemblyman, represents Newark, where Booker was mayor from 2006 to 2013.
Payne said Booker’s speech reminded him of the one President Obama’s gave in 2004 that helped catapult his political career.
“What struck me tonight was there was a similarity between what Cory Booker did tonight and what Barack Obama did some years ago.”
Booker was widely thought to be on Clinton’s short-list for Vice Presidential picks. She instead chose Virginia Senator Tim Kaine.
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