November 7, 2012
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For Those Who Didn’t Get It…
Nope.
Obama wasn’t perfect.
I did not love everything he said, or did.
But very few people are “true believers”, conservative, or liberal.
Fewer can be counted on to pull the lever, no matter what. You want them to make a major change? Give them the idea that they can have something BETTER.
Six months ago, 40 percent of the GOP COULD NOT STAND ROMNEY. They flatly loathed him—and would have taken ANYONE else but him. He only remained because the other dozen were so bat shit insane, that even the staunchest could not stand them. That is NOT the recipe for political success.
I have maintained for a long time that the GOP didn’t WANT to win this one. The economic disaster that began LONG before the 2008 election will take another six years to sort out…and no one wants to be in catbird seat till it has. I say this because I am actually trying to give the GOP some credit. Surely they have SOMEONE more worthy of POTUS than the weird ragbag of carnies and circus geeks they trotted out this time? I’ve met a lot of conservatives, and some are bright, thoughtful people. (Even If I don’t accept their views.) But A lot of their best and brightest of the past would have KICKED those weird bastards out of their houses—not to mention their party. I was not fond of Nixon…but I never would have called him stupid.
My friend @Ikwa mentioned Chris Christie last week—making supportive comments about Obama’s reaction to the Sandy disaster. I dismissed it, in part because I think Christie is a blowhard…but I have to admit…I am re-thinking it. Not that I think CC is a hero. Not at all. But…in the face of a wicked natural disaster, and a LOT of misery, CC took a hard look at things…and said “Screw this…my state needs help.” It’s all well and good to say “No—we’re just fine”…but pride is a very EXPENSIVE commodity. Louisiana’s Governor LOVES to say that he never actually ASKED for help after Katrina…or the BP spill. (Nice try, Jindall.) After TWO disasters, he still spouts the nonsense about smaller federal government…all the while latching onto the Tit of aid for all he is worth.
But Jindall still has Presidential aspirations.
Somehow, I think Christie finally figured it out. They love calling him “Rock Star”…but they were never going to give him Slot One…or even Two. My thought is that after they conned Christine Todd Whitman into resigning as Governor, they assumed ALL the politicos in NJ were blithering idiots. (A decent cabinet seat, I might have understood…but Head of the EPA? Under Bush 2? What sort of moron gives up a powerful Governors seat for THAT?) So, I think all the cards fell into place. And to be fair, I think Christie was as shook up as anyone—to see the wreckage left by Sandy. But as i told Ikwa, I also think it was the final wake up call. When your state has been torn APART, do you want your next leader to be someone who has talked longingly of destroying FEMA? This was the second bad storm in two years…and weather is not something we control. Add that to the losses after two bad blizzards…and anyone might start THINKING about the whole “each state should take care of their own” concept.
So I think Christie said “screw that noise”.
And he gave Obama his due.
THEN they tried to spank him.
Lord…they were not watching those outtakes on You Tube, were they? Christie does not take kind to critique…from ANYONE. He also knew his future with the GOP was limited. If they had taken him seriously, he would have been Romney’s Vice President…not Ryan. But who did they pick? The PRETTY BOY. Mr. Six Pack Abs. Up until that nonsense, I think Christie was firmly on board. I think he was probably already having doubts…and then Sandy descended…and that was all she wrote. I think it changed other people’s minds too. Easy to be pragmatic when you have running water, power, heat…not so simple when you don’t. And the NY views struck a lot of people hard too…too close to 9-11. Which leads to the uneasy thought…what if it happens to US? Do we really want to be alone in the dark, when the wolf is at our door? And suddenly it’s not about “hand outs”, but merely a hand, to help you get to your feet.
I think that’s why Obama won.
Not because we are such great people…but because of a shrieking HOWLING bitch of a storm…named Sandy.
Bruce Springsteen, you just might be a prophet…
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Comments (13)
There seemed to be less of a line at that Sunoco station on the Turnpike just south of Exit 16 I think it is. You know, when you get off I495 and take the left fork to go south on the Turnpike and pass a Sunoco station? A big one? There were HUMUNGOUS lines there for over a week, with State Troopers guarding the place. Today it looked downright civilized (I passed it on the bus that I was riding to beautiful downtown Newark.)
Yeah I think Big Boy comes across as more cerebral than some of his fellow “elephants” and he was the U.S. Attorney for a while before he ran for governor. New Jersey and New York have both had some rather ditzy governors. I wonder if I will run into Eliot and Silda on FetLife one of these days…hehehehe I hope they are having fun, I feel like buying Silda a strap-on for Hanukkah. With Vasoline of course. We should be nice.
So, Christie understood and put his ego aside and did what was best for his constitutents. My hope is that President Obama has the same thought… put aside some of his ego and pride and starts doing what’s best for America as a whole. “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”
I wonder too what was going on behind Republican doors.
CC is targeting a presentational run me thinks. Why he didn’t run this time. He knew Obama was way popular.
@Parker_Texas - I guess you missed the part about him JUMPING in…and helping? His ego was already aside. Unlike the Katrina debacle where the POTUS took six days to even look. Oh…and my husband was there THREE days later, as a first responder, so it wasn’t because of weather.
@Ikwa - From what I read, the GOP is saying he’s got no chance…they think he tanked Romney…
Good post.
i’m from jersey and springsteen is no prophet. or at least hasn’t been since the 70′s lol. i would def. support a christie/lepage ticket in the next election. someone has to stop the out of control spending cos quite frankly americans are not having enough babies (abortion, bc, etc.) to pay for all this stuff.–karen
@lifeontheWink - Hello Karen…you are certainly entitled to your opinion.
Funny thing…when people buy homes, they look for “good schools”. It helps the home value stay stable. But of course. of you want to go cheap, we can always try it like Texas does. They have a large issue with illiteracy…but hey…taxes are low, right?
I read on CNN, that the Republicans are blaming each other for the loss and also think that Sandy had a hand in it. I want to add, having people like Donald trump making statements also had a effect on the Republicans.
What over rode the tremendous amount of super Pac money? Hurricane Sandy stopped a week’s worth of propaganda ads.
Karl Rove is having a tough time to explain why all that money spent was for nought.
However democrats were outraged by voter suppression laws. People came out in droves because they thought their right to vote was being stolen from them.
Yes I had fears of how polling machines could have been rigged. California resurrected a bunch of voters who were dead and got a voting ballot notice. The republican get out to vote machine was stopped because they were registering democrats and throwing their registration away.
I was cynical coming into election day. Looks like my faith in the public is once again restored. Bless the goddess Sandy for coming to our rescue.
The fact is, they decided a war on the poor was the same thing as a War On Poverty…that controlling women was some half assed form of respect, and that following a man who was VERY wealthy would somehow imbue us all with riches.
How WEIRD is that?
What I like about Chris Christie is his down-to-earth demeanor, as well as the lack of any pretensions about him. He tells it like it is, and doesn’t try to score political points at every opportunity.
He’s also pretty likeable, which is rare for a GOP candidate these days.
Many of the “solid” GOP candidates who could run without scaring a majority of the population didn’t run this year, because like you said, they thought Obama was too popular, or that the economy would take longer to recover, and didn’t want to have to be stuck with it.
I could support a Chris Christie presidential run, depending on who the Democrat was, and I do think that Christie will run in 2016. If the Republicans harbor ill-placed grudges and shun Christie, then they’ll deserve all they get if they lose the White House again. Other GOP candidates who I would be interested in would be Mike Huckabee or Mark Rubio. Mitch Daniels, the Indiana governor who was term-limited this year, and gave the State-of-the-Union GOP reply is also someone I’d look into more.
That said, I supported Obama this time around, and would most likely lean Democrat again, just because my personal beliefs shade that way more. I don’t think that governments should legislate morality, nor impinge on actions that have no great social harm attached – i.e. gay marriage and marijuana legalization.
@cmdr_keen - Sorry…my friend died a few years back, loaded to his eyeballs on morphine—which drastically impacted on the quality of his life.
Medical Marijuana was made legal in NJ before Christie came in.
He has unilaterally BLOCKED it, and tries to blame Obama.
Balls…as in he needs to GROW a pair. The same man was willing to take the feds on over SPORTS GAMBLING…(which we don’t have a law for yet). But STILL refuses to allow people to legally grow, or distribute pot for the ill.THAT is bullshit. That is political cock blocking…and it makes him a shmuck.
As to a presidential run…(and this is not meant to be mean, honestly) unless that man goes for bariatric surgery, and loses about 250 pounds, he has no chance. We are a vapid society, and equate “fat” with stupid, lazy, and a variety of other undesirable traits. I have a cousin who watched a clip of Christie walking next to Obama after Sandy. (And she is a NICE person) who said…OMG…is he REALLY that big? I had no idea…which is telling.