“In fact, I love collective bargaining,” Christie told the crowd Wednesday, packed into a room in the municipal building. “I’ve said let’s get rid of civil service and let everything be collectively bargained, as long as collective bargaining is fair, tough, adversarial and there’s someone in that room representing you.” – Chris Christie: Collective Bargaining Something ‘I Love’
WASHINGTON — But remember, Gov. Christie is not running for president.
That may be so, but the quote on collective bargaining is something a politician says to distance himself from a newsmaking Republican who has marginalized himself with the broader public that is against weakening collective bargaining. It’s setting the record straight, for sure, but it’s also sending a message well beyond New Jersey that reveals a Republican not afraid to lead against conventional wisdom being driven at base level.
So, let’s call it keeping your options open, with a background that has you on the record humbly stating you don’t think you’re ready for the big job.
It’s all so perfectly crafted.
Yes. Believe me, I’ve been interested in politics my whole life. I see the opportunity. But I just don’t believe that’s why you run. Like I said at AEI, I have people calling me and saying to me, “Let me explain to you how you could win.” And I’m like, “You’re barking up the wrong tree. I already know I could win.” That’s not the issue. The issue is not me sitting here and saying, “Geez, it might be too hard. I don’t think I can win.” I see the opportunity both at the primary level and at the general election level. I see the opportunity. But I’ve got to believe I’m ready to be president, and I don’t. – The Corner
Gov. Christie is smart to think he’s not ready to be president.
Nobody is when they start out. Some prove unready once they’re there.
But as possible Republican candidates mull whether to get in or not, looking at the Newt, Rick, Donald, Tim, Sarah, Michele, Buddy, Ron, Mitch, Mitt, Mike, Jon, Gary, Haley possibilities, none of these people have what Mr. Christie offers.
In an era of Obama word salads, candidate promises dashed on anti-Democratic policies, not to mention incoherent leadership that isn’t inspiring anyone, there is something charmingly appealing about Gov. Chris Christie’s Trumanesque bluntness and damn the torpedoes directional certainty.
It’s how an incompetent man named George W. Bush won two terms.
There is no one in the Republican field right now who comes close to the brash exuberance and certainty of conservative purpose, however wrong, of Gov. Christie. He’s simply the most dangerous politician for the White House to contemplate facing not running for the presidency today.
Davids Plouffe and Axelrod should thank their lucky stars Gov. Christie contends he won’t announce.
I’m also reminded of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton who wouldn’t take on the presidency in 2004, because she’d made a promise to her constituents to fulfill her senate term. Of Barack Obama who didn’t have the resume for president, but sensed the moment was his to grasp. That it’s not always about convenience, but has a lot to do with sensing and seizing your day and time. A moment that opens for what you’ve got against an opponent who can’t offer what you can.
When Gov. Christie says he knows he could win he means it. There’s a reason for that and it’s because given his style he’s the perfect anti-Obama for a moment that is crying out for someone to fill it.
Taylor Marsh is a political analyst, writer and commentator on national politics. A veteran national politics writer, Taylor’s been writing on the web since 1996. She has reported from the White House, been profiled in the Washington Post, The New Republic, and has been seen on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic, as well as on radio across the dial and on satellite, including the BBC. Marsh lives in the Washington, D.C. area. This column is cross posted from her blog.