Biden spotlighted that, responding to Castro, “The secretary, we sat together in many meetings. I never heard him talk about any of this when he was the secretary.

Also taking Biden to task on the deportation figures was Julián Castro ― a particularly striking moment, since the Texan served in Obama’s administration as secretary of housing and urban development.

Castro retorted: “It looks like one of us has learned from the lessons of the past and one of us hasn’t.”

Polls show Obama remains a popular figure among all voters, with approval ratings easily outstripping those for President Donald Trump. And among Democrats, Obama remains by far the most admired politician.

Booker, in comments to CNN on Thursday, insisted it wasn’t a negative to reconsider part of the record of the Obama administration as part of the process of choosing the next Democratic presidential nominee.

Democrats are “having an honest conversation about an administration that was incredible,” Booker said. “And I’m sure (if) Barack Obama was sitting here ... He will tell you, ‘I made some mistakes.’”

But several of Booker’s Democratic Senate colleagues expressed concern about the tactic, arguing it would needlessly expose divisions in the party and take the focus off of Trump and his administration.