A savior or a sell-out? A compromise or compromised?
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“HE DOESN’T GIVE a s—- what people think,” a Republican “close” to Chris Christie told Politico after the governor denounced the Republican House and Speaker Boehner (yes, by name) for voting down a pork-laden aid bill in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. We pretty much knew Christie felt that way, though it was good to see it confirmed in writing. The bigger question, one that should concern Christie, is what people think about him.
We know he’s home safe in New Jersey, cruising toward re-election this November as he enjoys high approval numbers, a whittled Democratic opposition he himself helped weaken, and growing celebrity among those who care about such things. The problem for him is that almost nothing he’s done to win New Jersey can translate into a winning national Republican candidacy, let alone one that conservatives could in any way trust.
For one thing, there is glaring fact of his New Jerseyness. Big, fat, coarse, he’s forever pushing his weight around, playing the wise guy or the charmer, always insisting on being the center of attention (unless Barack Obama comes calling), the big shot in a small place, the son of a “Sicilian” (not Italian) mother, as he said at the Tampa convention. He may not know better. He’s never really lived and worked anywhere else. How someone this provincial can be said to have national ambitions is a mystery.
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Whatever his political future, it’s hard to imagine we’ll ever see him again stuffing donuts into his mouth on the David Letterman show.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
