Hoo boy — this speech will not in and of itself tamp down 2012 speculation, minus Christie adding an extemporaneous denial. It sure as heck sounds like the speech of a guy known for his domestic achievements laying out a foreign policy vision, because he for some reason thinks he should have a foreign policy vision ready to go.
Also, Christie has historically gone relatively easy on President Obama. And while he doesn’t exactly call POTUS a traitor or a socialist here, the speech does contain some of the most specific, and barbed, criticism of the president I’ve heard from Christie. Because for some reason he thinks he should be taking aim at the president.
To be clear, I’m not saying I think Christie is going to run — I’d be shocked if he did, actually. I’m saying that this speech makes it sound like he is going to run, when he could have put the kybosh on the whole thing.
Curiouser and curiouser.
UPDATE: Christie absolutely owned the Reagan library tonight, a point made most clear during the Q& A by the earnest, trembling plea from a woman who begged, on behalf of her “daughter and granddaughter,” that Christie reconsider running for president.
“I know New Jersey needs you, but I really implore you — this isn’t funny — we can’t wait another four years,” the woman said. “We need you. Your country needs you to run for president.”
Christie responded: “I hear exactly what you’re saying and I feel the passion with which you say it and it touches me.” But Christie also said that the decision to run “has to reside inside me.”
“That’s what I’ve said all along. I know without ever having met President Reagan that he must have felt deeply in his heart that he was called at that moment to lead his country.”
Earlier in the Q&A Christie issued a classic non-denial denial. When first asked whether he was really reconsidering a run, he directed audience members to a two-minute video compilation created by POLITICO. The video strings together all the times Christie has said that he won’t run.
More to the point, doesn't it look as if he's lost a little weight? Hmmm... :)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis RINO blowhard is going nowhere, but I hope he enters so I can have a good laugh.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJust read the text of Christie's speech, and it addresses events and relationships both national and international, because what we do here affects others elsewhere and affects the way they act toward us.
I take that as context, not as an effort at sounding like a presidential candidate. Please open your mind to the ideas conveyed by the speech, not the parochial purposes of personal ambition you prefer to perceive.
If you have not been to the Reagan Library, I suggest a visit there. It is in desert-like hills, resembling Israel in many ways, with a wide sky and a sense of stillness. That broad and timeless view fits well with the themes of Christie's speech.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAll well and good, but the "context" is a presidential race where many people were looking for Christie to announce a run at the Reagan Library. And a powerful speech about his leadership and accomplishments, set beside Reagan's, seemed to suggest he would throw his hat in the ring.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat domestic achievements?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI watched (am watching) his speech live and it sounded like a presidential campaign announcement speech to me, and a very, very good one at that.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseChristie reminds me of the title character in George S. Kaufman's hilarious film, ''The Senator Was Indiscreet.''
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHe takes audience questions at every after-dinner speech he makes, and beforehand pays waiters to send up the question ''Are you a candidate for president'' to which he lies he's not.
He also courageously takes a stand against both inflation and deflation but says he's for-flation.
Could be, Daniel. Sounds like a fixin'-to-run speech. NJ's loss would be the country's gain, but it bears noting what a serious blow it would be to the Garden State. Christie has been a great governor so far.
In respect of his reference to Reagan's firing of the air-traffic controllers, by the way, Christie has done his own Augean duty cleaning out patronage employees: External Link
As for his efforts at privatization, here's a useful piece: External Link
And as for the deficit that Christie faced coming into office, see: External Link
If you want a bunch of stats and other insights into the NJ that Christie leads, including the fact that it would the world's 3rd most densely populated (non-tiny) country if it were independent, check out External Link
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCC is about a 100pounds+ overweight/obese. Absolutely no way voters elect him POTUS. In NJ, I guess people don't care as much unless you are member of Jersey Shore!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNewt had/has same weight problem, and I am tired of conservatives being seen as the fat/rich guys!
I disagree with him in many areas, but I really like this guy. I take him at his word that is not ready and is not going to run.
I think he is positioning himself to be an effective campaigner for the GOP ticket in 2012. If we get Romney as the candidate, Christie's support gives an outside chance of carrying NJ (which would be a huge coup). He is also setting himself up as a possible VP candidate or cabinet member in a GOP administration, thereby getting exactly the experience he believes he needs before putting himself before the voters and asking for the big chair.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnything can happen. He could end up running after all, as a draftee.
Maybe he's positioning himself, by his sporadic travels, as a sort of compromise candidate if the Republican Convention should deadlock. In one of his denials, Christie made it clear that he didn't want to put his family through the pain of his being on the campaign trail for 18 months. If he's drafted at the Convention, that'd give him a scant 9 weeks or so of distress for his young children, of whom he is very protective.
Didn't the delegate selection rules change this time, so that the delegates are parceled out more proportionally than in 2008? As I recall, McCain benefited enormously from the first-past-the-post delegate selection process, in which the top vote-getter got all -- or almost all -- of the delegates from a given State, even if the plurality for McCain was far less than a majority of the votes cast.
If delegates are given out more proportionally this time around, the Republicans could have a real slug-fest, like Hillary and Obama had in 2008, with possibly no one having a clear majority of delegates come late August.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYep, the GOP establishment media has their guy who they will now do everything in their power to cover for. All Christie's liberal views will never be talked about for the next 6 months; just like they did with McCain in '08.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt is more than disquieting to read about people on the right who view Christie as a messiah. Been there, done that.
His record is far from ideal...he took on teacher's unions but really, what else? His stance on immigration, gun control, abortion, and yes, even state run health care is not at all conservative.
For these reasons I hope he gets in now, so his true blue blood, Rockefeller-Bush pseudoconservativism nature is revealed before all the Kool-aid drinkers imbibe from his grail.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWe need a leader who can coherently present a fiscal vision for the future of America. The country is thirsting for someone who can get their head out of the Washington trenches long enough to provide a something to grab onto. Something beyond 'bending the cost curve down' or other wonkery that may or may not be accurate. God Bless Paul Ryan, but no one will go to war for Paul Ryan's budget because no one goes to war over paper. Christie provides the voice and the articulation to give a conservative case the platform it needs. More than that, he has shown the desire to fight for that articulation. I don't know if Romney will fight for that, and I don't know if Perry can articulate that case for fiscal prudence outside the base.
If a candidate as dynamic as Christie could be, is taken down because of social issues on which he may not be as hard-line about as some would wish, I don't know what to say. The country will never be more receptive to the fiscal message Republicans have to push, and we need to put the best argument on that front now. We shouldn't ignore social issues, but to it seems inconceivable to put a potentially marginally better candidate on social issues forward when everyone's eyes are on the economy and the budget. The American Public would never forgive such unseriousness of mind from one party, and I wouldn't blame them at that point.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBravo Brian! We don't have time to worry about the social issues right now. If we don't fix the America's fiscal issues, the social issues are going to be much worse than they are now!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhen I first heard him, I have to say, I did get a tingle up my leg.
;-D
But then when I learned about the gun control, the abortion, immigration and health care, I was sorely disappointed.
I still like that he talks straight, even if I don't agree with him, but I don't see how I could get behind him if he were to run and then win the nomination.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou'd rather get behind a second Obama term? At some point, if your perfect (non-existent) candidate fails to secure the Republican nomination, one would hope you would vote for a man who will at least tell it like it is (and in a very interesting and entertaining fashion). Think of the fascinating press conferences we would have under a President Christie!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI don't give a whit about "press conferences", I want a roll back of Bush 41, Clinton, W and Obama. No Christie, thank you very much!
Better a Cain than a crutch.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHis powerful speech about leadership undermined by his decision to not enter the race. In the end, I was disheartened and demoralized. A lecture about how to lead followed by a "In my heart I'm not ready" send-off. His praise of Obama in 2004, then asking what happened to that guy...effective, but that guy didn't exist, it was a speech. And that's what we got from Christie, a nice speech.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis wasn't a nice speech. It was an infuriating, appalling speech. Christie thinks John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are too confrontational?!
People love Christie precisely because he's willin to confront and do battle with the pigs at NJ's trough. Plainly he's not willing to do the same at the national level.
"Leadership" is meaningless without direction. Direction can only come from ideoloical orientation and that, Christie plainly lacks.
There's no such thing as a "moderate" who's "good on fiscal issues." If you're a moderate you are incapable of advocating, let alone fighting for, any fundamental change in the direction of our government. Without such change we just continue moving inexorably toward collapse.
Chris Christie plainly won't do. Next!
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