President Christie? It Could Happen
I have to
confess I have enjoyed the brief head-banging
between Kentucky Senator Rand
Paul and Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey. I am New Jersey born-and-bred,
having lived here with time out for college and the U.S. Army. I have traveled
to most of the other states, but I was always happy to come home. I thought
Sen. Paul looked like he was—no pun intended—in the wrong weight division when
he got in the ring with Christie.
The
Governor is running for re-election in November against a no-name female
Democrat who was clearly chosen to be the sacrificial candidate against a sure
winner. As this is being written, Christie has garnered endorsements from forty-three Democrat elected officials
around the state, many of whom are heavy-hitters at the county level. In
Secaucus where Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly fifty percentage
points, the mayor and entire town council just endorsed him.
How can
Republicans win the White House in 2016? They could choose Chris Christie as
their candidate. Of all the potential candidates the GOP will select in the
primaries, Christie alone has the kind of cross over appeal that can encourage
Democrats who are sick of the damaged Clinton brand to wish Hillary gone for
good.
Christie’s
national reputation is such that the Guardian, a British newspaper, recently
treated its readers to a profile titled “New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is a lot more conservative than people think.” Among some conservatives, he is regarded
as a RINO (Republican in Name Only), but his record in office says otherwise.
As the
Guardian’s Matt Katz, noted, “In large swaths of conservative America, the
thinking is that the Republican who may best be positioned to win the White
House is not really a Republican.” Christie, however, campaigned vigorously for
Mitt Romney and was a keynote speaker at the Republican nominating convention.
Some cavil
at Christie’s assertive personality. Hey, he’s from New Jersey. Around here he
is just being outspoken and candid. We like that.
No one can
say that Christie is some pampered Ivy Leaguer from a privileged background. He
is a true native son who only ventured outside the Garden State was to pick up
a degree in political science from the University of Delaware (1984) followed
by a law degree from Seton Hall University in 1987. The University, located in
South Orange, is a short drive from where I live.
In 2002
Christie was named U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey and quickly
gained acclaim for combating political corruption, terrorism, and gang-related
violence, among other crimes. His record included more than 130 convictions or
guilty pleas. When he left office in 2008, he was praised by Republicans and
Democrats alike and won plaudits from the state’s newspapers. He became
Governor in January 2010.
Still,
conservatives are wary. Columnist Ann Coulter fell out of love with him after
he warmly greeted President Obama to the state in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
Rush Limbaugh predicts he will be the 2016 presidential nominee—for the
Democrats. Others are wary of his position on gun control, but he is not going
to be taking anyone’s guns away. Meanwhile, as the Guardian article pointed
out, “Liberals and moderates see him as a Republican they could learn to like.”
It would
be a big mistake, however, for conservatives, Democratic, Republican, and
independent to write him off. His record is there for anyone to see. He
reformed the state’s pension and health benefits system in ways that will save
more than $120 billion over the next three decades. While Governor, New Jersey
has enacted three consecutive balanced budgets. He got the legislature to put a
cap on property taxes. And he cut $2.35 billion in job-destroying taxes, along
with eliminating hundreds of rules and regulations, removing a burden on New
Jersey businesses.
Christie
has increased education funding and secured revisions to the state’s antiquated
teacher tenure laws while helping to increase charter schools in
under-performing districts around the state. He has dedicated nearly $1 billion
to hospital charity care and increased funding to the state’s 105 community
health-care centers to $50 million, an all-time high. If that’s not considered
conservative to some, it’s likely that those benefitting from these priorities
would disagree.
In a July
30 press conference, Christie said “we’ve made a choice to expand the Medicaid
program to cover more New Jerseyans and get them more healthcare coverage in
partnership with the federal government. On the other hand, we’re not going to
do state-based exchanges because the federal government won’t tell us what the
rules are, won’t put us in control, and won’t tell us what the cost is going to
be.”
To those
who are still unhappy about the greeting he gave President Obama in the wake of
a super-storm that destroy swaths of the famed Jersey shore, on July 30 his
administration announced that the Federal Emergency management Agency (FEMA)
had awarded more than $14 million in public assistance grants to the
municipalities of Belmar, Lavallette, and Newark.
There is
more than can be said of the Governor, but it is worth noting that Christie ties with Hillary Clinton in polls of general election voters. Name another
Republican that has done that.
© Alan
Caruba, 2013
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Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" and shared on dozens
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