Chris Christie Gets Outed

Apparently New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is feeling the heat.

A lot of Republicans are blaming him - justifiably in my opinion - for his man crush on President Obama during Hurricane Sandy, saying that his over-the-top embrace and fulsome praise of the president for doing what the president was supposed to do anyway created a massive story and photo-op for the president that was essentially a campaign commercial.

I'd be discounting this, if not for the exit polls.

For some bizarre reason,a one hour photo-op and  short speech next to Christie that the Obama Media turned into a major story seems to have redeemed the president and made him look 'presidential' in th eyes of a surprising amount of voters whom said it made a difference and affected their vote.

At the same time, not only was Christie refusing to campaign for Romney in places like the next door Philly suburbs where it could have made a difference, but he  when asked at a press conference about Romney coming to the state for a tour of the devastation, Christie snapped that he was “not the least bit interested” in whether Romney is coming to Jersey or not. In fact, he “could care less.”

It was definitely the governor's responsibility to work with the president and put politics and campaigning second, even  though some people might say he could easily  have spared an hour somewhere to try and help Romney out in Pennsylvania.. But considering that Governor Christie could simply have made a reasonable and short statement that he and the president were working together on getting aid to those in  need and avoided the photo-op altogether, it's obvious that this kind of behavior was not unintentional:



Hey, as part of the deal, Governor Christie even got to tour the area  in the president's own helicopter and even interact  none other than  his idol, Bruuuuuuuuce Springsteen.

Chris Christie is a Republican - sort of- in a deep Blue state that the president was always going to  carry.

Ann Coulter, who's certainly a lot more knowledgeable and connected when it comes to these things than I has said that she's heard that Christie did what he did because the photo-op, the dumping of Romney and the slavering over the president was the price exacted for expediating FEMA aid to New Jersey.

I don't buy it. For one thing, aside from the photo-op and a lot of verbiage, things are still pretty devastated both in New Jersey and New York state, and a lot of complaints about FEMA's non-action are only being peripherally reported in bits and pieces by the Obama media.

Personally I think it was simply politics.

Governor Christie was reportedly not thrilled (at least before the election results came in)  that he decided not to run for president this year. He was even less thrilled when he was passed over for vice president by Romney.

An indication of this was his notoriously lack luster keynote speech at the GOP convention.

By lauding President Obama and going on a highly publicized photo op with him, Governor Christie did two things. First, he enhanced his own appeal with New Jersey's Democrats.And second, he did what he could to stick a shiv in Mitt Romney while (in his mind) not appearing too blatant about it.

Had Romney won, Christie could not have run in 2016, and by 2020 he'd likely be a political footnote.With Romney losing, he figured, his path to running in 2016 was wide open.

Actually, I think his calculation was pretty much right on, except for one thing. If Chris Christie runs in 2016, he'll be running as the Democrat he once was.

Look for him to switch parties sometime soon, perhaps even to run for senator before trying to grab the main prize, maybe taking over for 88-year-old Frank Lautenberg.

In any event, very few Republicans outside New Jersey would ever consider him for president after this.

President Obama didn't win re-election solely because of this, but if you look at the exit polls, it certainly  helped tremendously.