When you take into consideration New Jersey’s political history, Chris Christie is probably one of the best things to happen to the state in 50 years. Gotta love the guy for his chutzpa alone. But that is a long, long way from saying that he would be good for America as its 45th president.
In the first place, let’s be honest, if the man gains another half-pound they’ll officially designate him a zip code. Secondly, we don’t know where he stands on a plethora of issues.
Let’s look at a few:
Gun control: “Listen, we have a densely populated state, and there’s a big handgun problem in New Jersey,” Christie said to Sean Hannity. “Now, I don’t support all the things that the governor supports by a long stretch. But I think on guns — certain gun control issues, looking at it from a law-enforcement perspective, seeing how many police officers were killed; we have an illegal gun problem in New Jersey.”
Immigration: Although he is vague on the subject, he sounds like pre-border hawk John McCain, in other words liberal on immigration reform; he is against Arizona SB 1070. Here is how he skirts the issue: “What I support is making sure that the federal government [plays] each and every one of its roles: Securing the border, enforcing immigration laws, and having an orderly process — whatever that process is — for people to gain citizenship.” He added: “It’s a very easy issue to demagogue and I’m just not going to participate in that.”
Islamist terrorism: Room for concern here. You have to go some to be more liberal than the U.S. government on Muslim extremism, but Christie just may be. When the feds attempted to deport Muslim Brotherhood member Mohammed Qatanani, Christie stepped to his aid. We’re not passing judgment yet, but the Governor sounds about as clueless on Islam as Puffy Combs.
In addition to all of these unknowns, Christie may also be a “greenie,” although he is vague on energy, as well. The next GOP nominee will have to be strong on a domestic energy policy after four years of Obama’s budget busting green energy insanity.
So, is Christie the right-wing firebrand his supporters claim? Probably not.
If you are, say, a Tucker Carlson, Chris Christie may be your election night dream date, but we tend to agree with the Governor when he says he is not ready for the presidency. Chris Christie is obviously Chris Christie’s biggest—no pun intended—fan, but he may not be the big gun many Republicans think. He has been lauded as a surgeon on spending, but what choice has he had?
Or as former Alaska governor Sarah Palin recently observed:
“He has no choice but to cut budgets because he’s broke, his state is broke,” Palin said recently. “What courage really is, is, in the face of having a surplus, when you have an opportunity to spend, spend, spend other people’s money, that you still choose to rein in government, to let the private sector soar. That’s real courage.”
