Governor Christie Bails

The morning after Hurricane Sandy decimated the Jersey Shore, Governor Chris Christie couldn’t wait to tell us that the destruction was unthinkable. This was truly a guy who was shocked and saddened by what had happened to his beloved state. Certainly we all felt bad for New Jersey’s devastated residents, particularly those in Atlantic City who basically have seen their town destroyed. There has also been a tragic loss of life and our thoughts are with the bereaved.

In the midst of all this chaos, New Jersey’s dedicated Governor has recovered from his grief long enough to lavishly praise the President’s response on several talk shows. Christie informed us that Obama was nothing short of awesome for doing what a President is supposed to do.

Republican Governor Chris Christie said on CBS Morning News that our Democrat President deserves “great credit” for accelerating disaster relief to New Jersey. President Obama phoned him at midnight (past this President’s usual bedtime, if reports of going to bed while the Benghazi consulate blazed are correct) to ask for damage assessment and assure him that help was on the way. Now Christie’s been on “Piers Morgan” and all seventeen people who still watch have heard that the President has been “outstanding.”

Okay, what’s wrong with this picture? Please allow me to interpret this bipartisan epic of gushing admiration.

It’s all about what happens to Chris Christie four years from now. If Mitt Romney wins this election and runs again in 2016, Chris’s path to the White House is stuck in muck not unlike that on the Jersey Shore. On the other hand, if our newly responsive and engaged POTUS manages to eke out a win, then Christie could be in the running to get the Republican nomination in 2016.

At the Republican Convention, Governor Christie’s keynoter was largely about happy times at his stern-but-loving mom’s kitchen table. Of course he would support the Republican candidate, but no need to actually go on about the fellow’s suitability for office. We heard about Chris’s college sweetheart Mary Pat and their four kids who have a rich Irish/Italian heritage. It was a hearty helping of lasagna with a side of blarney.

News guy Chris Wallace smelled something amiss with Christie’s spiel. He noted that Christie said the word “I” 37 times, “Romney” seven times and “jobs” one time. Wallace said, “[It] seemed sometimes as if he was promoting his own candidacy more than he was Mitt Romney’s.” Christie claimed he saw his address as a chance to lay out the stakes in the election, and that Ann Romney’s opening speech freed him from having to talk much about Mitt.

Now with only a few days to go before the election, we have the exhausted Christie prattling on about how presidential the President is for simply doing his job. And gosh, Obama’s coming all the way to New Jersey to survey the damage. It’s really a dangerous war zone out there, and he’s flying in to eyeball it for ten minutes.

Get a grip, Governor. Did you really have to say that you don’t care whether Mitt Romney visits your state because you’re just not into presidential politics right now? Don’t you want President Romney to know about your state’s recent challenges just in case a beauty like Irene or Sandy comes to call again during his term? But I guess inviting Mitt to your little beach party is out of the question, though it might help him win a few votes in neighboring Pennsylvania. Can’t have any politicking on the holy shards of a shattered pier!

Please stop sandbagging your party’s candidate and bailing out your new best friend’s campaign. And for heaven’s sake, at this late date stop confusing being polite and grateful with kissing the wrong places on the wrong “folks!” If you ever run for national office, we won’t need any reminders that Chris Christie displayed an excess of misplaced enthusiasm at the expense of his country.

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