I don't really care too much about which airport is better since I'm not a road warrior, but I feel like having a direct flight to EWR will be much better as far as connecting on international itineraries.

I often drive to EWR (or PHL or JFK) to take the flights out of there rather than taking them out of BGM because of the significant amount of extra time due to connections and all that nonsense. Just this year, I've already driven to EWR to get their direct flight to MXP. Later this year I'll be driving there (unless I can score some good deals on BGM-EWR) to start and end a Thailand trip, a trip to Aruba and a trip to PDX. So, if there was a way to just start in BGM rather than have to drive to EWR, I would gladly take that option instead.