Scandal embroiled New Jersey Governor Chris Christie today as it was revealed that his aides had conspired to tie up traffic on the George Washington Bridge (the busiest bridge in the world) as payback for not getting the endorsement of the Democratic Mayor of the nearby town of Fort Lee.
All of which would be yawn inducing and slightly grimy but not an actual scandal- turns out Al Gore had done much the same thing back in the primaries in 2000, but this was a little different. First of all, it wasn't about winning an election- it was political payback, pure and simple. Second of all, the traffic nightmare that resulted slowed down EMS response times and at least one woman died as a result of her extended trip to the hospital.
Which moves this from the territories of 'shenanigans' into actual, real live 'scandal' territory.
Governor Christie wasted no time in addressing the scandal. Refreshingly, he fired the aide who ordered the traffic problems and took full responsibility and apologized for the lane closures. He had another aide withdraw his name for State GOP Chairman and cut all ties with the Republican Governors Association.
He did all of this in a marathon press conference that lasted 107 minutes- it comes across as uncommonly smart politics- let the media asks questions until they've got no more questions to ask. (First fifteen minutes of the marathon are here, if you're interested.) The general feeling is that his Presidential ambitions have been dealt a serious blow- but I'm not so sure. Watching his opening statement for the press conference, he came across as transparent, apologetic and genuinely remorseful about the actions of his aides. I tend to agree with the notion that if anything he said in the press conference turns out to be less than true, then you can stick a fork in him- he's done.
But overall, I think I was left with a feeling of 'down but by no means out.' The fact that he owned up and actually fired someone (something that doesn't happen a lot in politics) is refreshing. The bigger problem for his Presidential ambitions is going to be the fact that a lot of Conservatives don't really like him all that much. If (and that's a big 'if') he can get past this scandal then I think he could potentially be considered a serious player going forward toward 2016.
Don't get me wrong: I'm not 100% sold on Christie yet- or any other candidate for that matter, but I think he could be considered a serious candidate on the GOPer side and serious candidates are lacking, especially on the GOPer side.
I can't believe I'm writing this, but going forward toward 2016, the GOP is faced with a problem: I feel like their coalition is cracking. You've got pro-national security GOPers versus Civil Liberties/Libertarian GOPers, Social Conservatives versus Realists... you either need a new coalition or a candidate that can stitch them all back together to succeed in 2016. And a lot of these coalition partners force the GOP to contradict its core message time and time again. You can't fulminate against big government and the government coming to take your guns and then turn around insist that the state has the power to override the wishes of a family to keep a woman alive. It's contradictory at best, hypocritical at worst. I come firmly down on the idea that embracing the civil liberties/libertarian side of the GOP will reap more benefits that sticking with the Establishment/Social Conservative wing of the party.
The Dems have their own set of problems: they have to get past 2014, hope Obamacare doesn't screw too many people in the process and whatever results from that is going to shape their Presidential race going forward. It's a long way until November, so I don't know what, if anything is going to happen- it could all look very different come fall. After that, the question becomes, can anyone sink the S.S. Hillary? (Am I 'Ready For Hillary'? Possibly. But I get queasy over the quasi-dynastic thing and am, in general tired of Bushes and Clintons. I want to see a female President in my lifetime, but I think there are less divisive candidates out there and resent the notion that I, or anyone should vote for someone solely based on their gender. But I'm open to the notion, anyway.)
Like it or not, (ugh) 2016 is here. Might as well get used to it...
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