October 31, 2012

Chris Christie Probably Really Doesn’t Give a Damn About Presidential Politics Right Now

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Why has Chris Christie suddenly embraced President Obama as a long-lost brother in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy? This joins many other great questions of the universe. Who is John Galt? Who promoted Peress? Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? What did he know and when did he know it? What is the meaning of life?1 But today Dan Amira takes a crack at it anyway:

Some might conclude that Christie is looking out for his own political future (again?), either as a Republican governor running for reelection in a blue state or as a straight-talking Republican presidential candidate hoping to win the support of independents. Or it may be that Christie, as he told Fox & Friends this morning, just doesn’t “give a damn about presidential politics” right now. But Romney surely still does, and he probably wouldn’t mind if Christie toned it down a bit.

I find this oddly fascinating. I sort of give Christie the benefit of the doubt here. Partly this is because he does seem to be a genuinely emotional guy and may simply be reacting to the moment. But the other reason is that I find it hard to believe that Christie truly thinks he has a chance of winning the Republican nomination in 2016 regardless of what he does. We’ve been through this all before, but he’s (a) kinda sorta pro-choice, (b) thinks climate change is real, (c) is in favor of gun control, and (d) when someone asked him about tea-partyish concerns over Sharia law he famously said, “It’s just crazy. And I’m tired of dealing with the crazies.” I know people can convince themselves of all sorts of things, but you’d really have to be living in la-la land to think the Republican Party is going to nominate anyone like that sometime soon.

But regardless of whether I’m right or wrong, Christie’s comments have been over-the-top enough that I doubt they’re solely a product of being overcome by emotion. Christie, I’d guess, has pretty much given up on the prospect of Romney winning next week. I wonder if he knows something the rest of us don’t?

1In case you’re actually interested: (1) a pissed-off genius inventor, (2) bureaucratic inertia, (3) it depends, (4) probably quite a bit and rather a long time ago, and (5) 42.

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