IN DEFENSE OF GOVERNOR CHRISTIE

I am not turned off on Gov. Christie as a result of the scandal. His handling of the situation so far has made me more sanguine about his presidential aspirations.

Over the last few weeks the Governor has been the center of a media feeding frenzy regarding the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal. I had to turn off one TV network because it was so repetitious I just could not listen any longer. Bashing Christie was their only story, and listening to it over and over again just got so boring.  (Furthermore it soon became apparent that the objective of this barrage was to sink the only viable Republican candidate so as to support the prospects of a  Ms Clinton candidacy.  To my thinking she would be a disaster.)  What more could they say about him?

 The hiatus from the talking heads on the TV gave me some time to think. I used that time to contrast the kind of Presidential leadership we presently have in Washington---timid, uncertain, tentative, and with little ability to use or manipulate the bully pulpit and levers of power the occupant  of the Oval Office has at his or her disposal (if they have the guts to use them) in that chaotic, back stabbing, quagmire of political intrigue.  Mr. Obama, an intelligent man-a nice man, a decent man but a man with no stomach for battle, any battle. His weakness was that he could never show passion or get angry.  Perhaps he was too fearful of being cast as “an angry black man”. That was a weakness he brought to the job with him.   He just never had a chance. His timidity gave the Republicans the opening to attack and they never let up.  I suggest he has become the Arthur Ashe of the political world. I was a great admirer of Mr.Ashe---a great tennis player,--but one who angered me --when he let his opponents take an obvious close call along the line which they did not deserve.  He was the first prominent black player and he often, gave up points he should have fought for.


 What Mr. Christie’s “scandal” revealed to me was that he is just the kind of leader we might need in Washington, he is the kind of "bully" that City deserves. (But he has to have a better staff. The sort who won't get caught with their hands in the cookie jar.).   OK, Trenton is not Washington, but from what we know now, it appears to be a microcosm of the big bad city on the Potomac...a great training ground for the next President. So rather than turning me off---the so called “scandal” left me more confident in Governor Christie’s Machiavellian abilities. He might just be the one able to “kick a bit of ass” and get things to happen.

Now what would those things he WANTS to happen BE? What is his real agenda (besides being reelcted)? That's what we would have to know before we sign on to his candidacy. But if he were to govern as he has in New Jersey, as a sort of middle of the road Republican, there are many --like me---that just might be convinced. Our vote is always a compromise. Here in the USA we have two parties that bicker and fight with each other but their agendas are very similar. Well excluding the far right idiotic fringe elements.

To my mind right now (admittedly I am still not fully informed about Mr. Christie) I can’t imagine a Mr. Christie in our current President's position. He has just begun his new term. He was reelected handily. But his opponents (unfairly and I’m sorry to say viciously ) used that weakness as a bludgeon to delegitimization and weaken him---and the nation as a whole. We all suffered with him. His administration is partly responsible for the government grid-lock we have now. But the Republicans must take the main part of the blame. So why elect a candidate that can not or will not fully grasp the reins of power? As a nation we might just need a Christie-like character in the White House to “kick butt” in Washington. No more nice guys. We must tame the beast that Washington has become. So our nation can function again.