PHILADELPHIA --To his detractors, Sen. Cory Booker has always been a showboat who loves the stage, but loses interest when it comes to the hard work of governing.

They have it half right.

He loves that stage, as the nation saw Monday night when he offered a prime time speech that was half-sermon and half pep-talk.

He was hoarse and jagged at the start. But by the end, the crowd here was roaring, and Booker was, working them with the natural ease of a champion bullfighter waving his red cape.

"In America, love always trumps hate!" he shouted as many in the crowd jumped to their feet. "America, we will rise!"

So yes, he's a showboat. And if you think all the talk about love in his speech was too much, you might gag at his response after Donald Trump fired off one of his obnoxious attack tweets.

"I love you, Donald, I pray for you," Booker said on CNN. "I just don't want you to be my president."

It was a counter punch with a velvet glove. And it worked better than anything I've heard from Crooked Hillary, Lying Ted, or Pocahontas.

Booker's problem is that his high polish distracts people from the impressive political work he gets done.

How can a guy with 2 million Twitter followers be anything but a celebrity, they think? How can a guy who rescued a woman from a burning building bear to sit through dry hearings on bank regulations? His critics call him Sen. Kardashian.

But really, if you scrape off the glitz, there is a good and tough politician inside.

When Booker was mayor of Newark, an inherited fiscal crisis forced him to cut the city workforce by 25 percent and raise taxes sharply. He faced reality, and loads of people hated him for it.

That's not what a showboat does.

In the Senate, Booker drafted an amendment that freed up billions of dollars for Amtrak projects, including a new Hudson River tunnel.

New Jersey has no higher funding priority than that tunnel, so this is no small win. Nervous structural engineers say at least one of the two existing century-old tunnels could be forced to close any time. If that happens before the new tunnel is built, New Jersey's economy will take a crushing blow.

"It was stalled and he played a huge role in getting it moving," says Anthony Coscia, the chairman of Amtrak's board. "Now we're making real progress."

Coscia was impressed. That $30 billion federal fund had been sitting mostly idle for years, with sclerotic rules that blocked access. Booker and his staff dug into the details, and recruited a key Republican, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, to co-sponsor an amendment that fixed it.

"I don't think Amtrak could have gotten him to return a phone call, let alone co-sponsor an amendment like this," Coscia says of Wicker. "But Booker wanted a Republican co-sponsor."

He also helped bring a reluctant Gov. Chris Christie into the loop on that effort.

"Christie and I have been texting during this convention," Booker says. "If you keep those lines open, you can build tunnels."

Acting on the advice of one of his mentors, former Sen. Bill Bradley, Booker has made a point of getting to know other senators personally, sharing meals, and even prayers.

He attends a regular Bible study session with Sen. James Inhofe, the nutty Oklahoma Republican who considers climate change a "hoax."

"I've never trashed him publically," Booker says, "And I'm working on a friendship."

It paid off in a small way: Booker drafted an amendment forcing states to keep track of the disastrous dropout rates among children in foster care and homeless shelters. The hope was to shame laggard states into making changes, but the amendment stalled.

He went to Inhofe, his Bible buddy, who agreed to co-sponsor the amendment. It passed.

Ross Baker, a distinguished professor of political science at Rutgers University and an expert on the Senate, gave Booker positive reviews on his first three years. He's keeping his head down, Baker said, working hard, building relationships.

Booker's most ambitious goal is to reform the criminal justice system by reducing long prison terms for non-violent criminals and easing their return to society after their release. He's scored a few small wins, but nothing dramatic yet.

Booker says unequivocally that he doesn't want to be governor of New Jersey, a job that he could probably have next year if he wanted it. He said Hillary Clinton was serious about him as a vice-presidential pick, that the four-month vet was thorough and continued until a few weeks ago.

But picking Booker would have handed Republicans a Senate seat. And he's not ready to succeed as president now; he doesn't pretend to be.

Someday, though, it could happen. He's 47 years old. He doesn't drink, or smoke, or eat meat, and he's lost a ton of weight. He'll likely be with us for many years to come.

And as we've learned this year, when it come to American politics, anything can happen.

Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.