Cory Booker: Humility, service, the Supreme Court, and staying 'United'

Sen. Cory A. Booker (D., N.J.) was spending a busy but fairly routine (politically speaking) Valentine's Day weekend in Las Vegas and Reno, campaigning for Hillary Clinton.

Then, on the Saturday, all hell broke loose.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died, and the New York Times almost instantly put out a short list for potential nominations for his replacement. Booker - Yale Law grad, Rhodes scholar, former Newark mayor - was on it.

The junior senator's schedule was already filled with press interviews promoting his new book, United. (He appears at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Free Library.) But suddenly, that was far from the main topic of conversation.

As he headed from his New Jersey office to New York to face the media deluge, Sen. Booker, who has a joyous, booming laugh, chatted about the impending political storm and the importance of service and humility in a world of privilege.

So - quiet weekend?

[Big laugh.] I was in Reno and Las Vegas, just making phone calls and talking to my team and doing the intense work of campaigning for Hillary Clinton when a staffer told me that [Justice Scalia] had died. Obviously, talk started turning to the next nominee, but I thought the focus should be on the person who gave their life to public service.

It was a little surprising how fast talk went from "Scalia is dead" to "Who's next?"

It was disappointing, obviously. This is all unprecedented.

Would you even take it? Being a Supreme Court justice is a very solitary position in a lot of ways, and, judging from your book, most of your energy comes from that one-on-one with people, in working in communities.

Look, no matter what you do, the point I make in the book is that you have to find ways to reach out beyond your circles, show great empathy, and be of service, and connect with folks to do good. ... I encounter people who work tough jobs and menial jobs and office jobs, and they make a tremendous impact on their communities, beyond where they live.

So you're a Supreme Court justice, and you're still going to shovel snow? I think the Secret Service might have some things to say about that.

You do the best you can with where you are.

Why this book now?

I'd just finished two elections - for mayor [in 2010] and then for senator [in 2013]. I kept hearing from people about how worried they were about the country and its people being so divided. And I wanted to write about how we could be united. It took a while to write - over a year, mostly from 11 p.m. until 4 a.m. - and it took a while to come out. There was no nefarious election schedule involved.

In your book, you're very humble. You regret losing your temper, you write about reconciling with former Newark Mayor Sharpe James, you go vegetarian, then vegan. You probably saved some drowning puppies in there that I missed. Can you talk about some of your actual flaws? Do you ever, like, just break loose and eat a vat of buffalo wings?

[Big laugh.] Well, I did write about the big pancake feast I had before I went vegan. In the book, I was purposefully trying to demonstrate my flaws more than my successes, and I made a lot of mistakes. ... Everyone has flaws, and the more human - to be vulnerable and broken - we allow ourselves to be, that's a pathway to greater strength.

In "United," you write about what you felt were unfair perks that came with being on the Newark City Council. How are the perks in the U.S. Senate?

It's two different circumstances. The city council members in Newark had lavish pay and perks compared to other cities in New Jersey. Being in the Senate, I walk onto the floor, and I get chills. I mean, it's not lost on me that I'm the fourth elected African American senator to walk into that place. . . . I remember one night, we were all complaining, you know how everyone complains about their jobs, no matter what job you're in. And it was one of those all-night sessions that happen sometimes, and I was with Angus King [I., Maine], who is also new to the Senate. And he said, "You know what? There should be a sign up there, and it should say, 'You're in the Senate. There is no whining on the yacht.' "

It's a big difference being in the U.S. Senate and being mayor.

You can't be as hands-on. Change is measured in inches, and not the miles we need to go in this country. It's hard, and every inch is paid for in effort and struggle.

How is the book tour going so far?

Well, I've just started. One reporter did have a lot of questions about my romantic life. But the one mistake I keep reading is that this book is about change in Washington. I hope people read the book to look at themselves and feel a connection to my journey. If we want change in the world, we have to be reaching out, we have to rise. If you want more grace, you have to be more graceful. If you want more hope, you have to be the engineer of that hope, even if it's just touching the lives of one or two people.