People have asked me, “How bad does this hurt Chris Christie?”
My answer: It hurts him bad. Real bad. Let me explain why.
I know that 2016 is still away off, but this scandal doesn’t have an expiration date because it is about him. It is about his leadership. His opponents in the 2016 primary will say things like this.
“I have great respect for the Governor and his accomplishments in New Jersey, but he is not the right man to lead this party or the country. The governor has explained that he did not know what his top aides were doing when they closed down the George Washington bridge.
I believe him, and that is the problem.
As bad as the political actors might be in Trenton, they are boy scouts compared to the rough and tumble politics of Washington. If he didn’t know what his top aides were doing in Trenton, how can he possibly stay on top of what goes on in a hugely bloated administration with nearly unlimited power these days? And each of those agents and agencies has its own agendas and motivations. I don’t think that the Governor has demonstrated he is up to the job.
Look. We have just gone through eight years in which our government and our President has used the power of government as a weapon against its political enemies with the American people suffering as a result.
Governor Christie showed that he was powerless against such a culture of corruption and thuggery in Trenton. He is simply not the right man to to change that same culture in Washington. While Governor Christie was blind to what was happening in his own administration his own people suffered, some even died. We simply can not allow the American people to suffer the same way from a government that uses and abuses power for its own political ends while the Chief Executive turns a blind eye.
Governor Christie simply cannot change the culture in Washington because he has been in the same culture so long, he doesn’t even notice it anymore.”
I don’t see how such statements, repeated over and over by his primary opponents will fail to leave a lasting mark. It is gonna hurt, real bad.
January 9, 2014 at 6:43 pm
I couldn't agree more, Pat. He'll take a beating in the Primaries over this. Rand Paul is dancing right now.
January 9, 2014 at 7:33 pm
And yet, and yet, Obama has been 10x worse in so many scandals, and no one is fired, and he takes no responsibility, and the media cover for him. It's sickening.
I have no brief for Christie but at least he fired people. Obama just continues to have the buck stop anywhere but on his (usually unoccupied) desk.
January 9, 2014 at 8:21 pm
What JB said. Don't want Christie on the ballot. But the double standard is sickening.
January 10, 2014 at 1:05 am
I never cared for Christie anyway. If this gives Rand Paul a leg up…good.
January 10, 2014 at 12:45 pm
I want to read fxr2's post on grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure.
January 10, 2014 at 1:31 pm
Oh, it's ok, fxr2 is probably just a New Jersey public school teacher.