Today we see the shocking news that Chris Christie is not running for president. Man, I was so surprised by this. I mean, how could a guy who's seen as an electable middle-of-the road, fiscal conservative not throw his hat into a race in which voters have changed their preferences more times than Mitt Romney has changed his positions? I'm joking. I wasn't surprised, because Christie has already said NUMEROUS TIMES on television and in print that he would not run for president.
This continued media frenzy has led me to wonder how desperate the mainstream cable outlets are to find a story in the Republican primary. They may occasionally get lucky and have a field day over candidates' past mistakes and scandals, as they did with the the recent controversy over Rick Perry's N-word hunting retreat. However, why it was only confirmed today that Christie is not running is beyond me.
In numerous interviews, Christie has said,"My heart just isn't all the way in it" or "I'm not ready to be president." Yet pundits like Chris Matthews on MSNBC's "Hardball" have continually reported that Christie was "leaving the door open." If that's leaving the door open, these outlets have a serious problem understanding the English language.
Sarah Palin, on the other hand, never really gave a yes or no answer. She drove around the country in a campaign bus talking about what she would do if she was president, and then after "much prayer," decided this just wasn't her year. Mrs. Palin, you not only disappointed your legions of hockey moms and wolf-shooting fur trappers, you let down liberals who knew you had no chance to beat Barack Obama in the general election. Shame on you for not running.
To me, this just seems like lazy news by the mainstream media. Sure, everyone wants Christie to run, because many voters are singing the old Rolling Stones hit "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" when it comes to the current crop of candidates. Christie has declared multiple times already that he has no intention to run.
Plus, with his "maverick" comments defending a Muslim justice and the fact that he governed a fairly liberal East Coast state, many fundamentalist Republicans may have struggled to get behind him, much like Romney. Just let the man breathe for a while; I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty of him in 2016 if President Obama gets re-elected.
I hope we see more of him; he strikes me as one of the few genuine guys at the forefront of Republican politics right now. He's honest, has a sense of humor, and his press conferences beat the hell out of Mitt Romney making awkward jokes before diving back into his well-beaten plan to fix the economy by giving corporations more money to sit on in hopes that they'll eventually hire. In fact, that might be exactly why Chris Christie didn't run. He's just too real of a guy.
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