Black Like Whom?

Cory Booker is getting smeared. In the eyes of many in Newark's majority black community, their reformist celebrity mayor is Not Black Enough™. This is a familiar assault to any black conservative (c.f. Barber, LaShawn for a blogospheric example). Usually, liberals like Cory Booker - who is cut from the same cloth as Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Deval Patrick - are spared the indignity of an assault upon their cultural identity. However, the experience of Mayor Booker shows that the black old-boy network is no different in its goals than any other political machine, but is willing to employ means reminiscent of Tammany Hall.