Chris Christie: So Much For The New Conservative Hero

Well, looks like politics have ruined what was once a great governor and a possible perceived hope for turning the country around. (There really isn't that much hope when you start looking at America's situation, but figuring that out takes time/effort and might make one sad if you aren't prepared to handle it.) Christie has officially sold out. He is no longer a principled conservative and has instead decided to become part of the political establishment. He has now endorsed the liberal presidential candidate Romney and has said it is intellectually dishonest to compare Romney care to Obamacare. Looks like Chris is the one that is intellectually dishonest:

"Mitt Romney and Barack Obama never met to discuss the federal health care law, but Romney's advisers did. New records reviewed by NBC News's Michael Isikoff point out that 'White House officials had a dozen meetings in 2009 with three health-care advisers and experts who helped shape the health care reform law signed by Romney in 2006.' One meeting, NBC News reports, 'was in the Oval Office and presided over by Barack Obama.' Jon Gruber, one of the advisers who attended the Obama meeting, said that the White House 'really wanted to know how we can take that same approach we used in Massachusetts and turn that into a national model.'"

This is just one small point to show that Christie is himself being intellectually dishonest.

What a sell out, but such is the way of American politics: Americans won't accept or elect a real principled conservative. Americans would rather be lied to and have leaders like Obama. Christie's betray is just another nail in America's coffin along with the Republican's complete and utter failure to address America's looming debt crisis during the debt ceiling deal. Watch Romney become the candidate. Obama or Romney? Looks like a false choice to me.

A New Hero for Conservatives

Item 1: One of the early indications that the country was losing it's infatuation with President Hope 'n' Change was the November '09 elections where Republicans replaced Democrats as governors in Virginia, and surprisingly, heavily Democratic New Jersey.  We now see that that was a precursor to the earthquake that happened in Massechusetts.  The name of the Republican who won in New Jersey is Chris Christie, who was a US Attorney in the District of New Jersey.

Item 2: A consistent theme of RTP&GG is the intractable and devastating problem of exploding government debt caused by unsustainable entitlements granted to government employee union benefits packages, social security and Medicaid/Medicare recipients, and soon to be compounded with Obamacare.  This is not to mention the problem that has been discussed here quite a bit of the ever-expanding size of American government.

It has been generally acknowledged that current and past government leaders have been unable to make any headway against the government unions exemplified by NEA and SEIU.  Numerous RTP&GG posts explain the reasons for this failure, which I won't go into here. 

We cheered Wisconsin Rep Paul Ryan when he stood up to Obama during Obama's attempt to appear bipartisan at his Health Care Summit.  A clearly intelligent, able debater that wouldn't back down.  That's what we've desperately needed to push our viewpoint in the national media.  But as with Obama himself, and, to a lesser extent Sarah Palin, Paul Ryan still has a thin resume.  I think experience is actually going to count for something in the next election as opposed to solely a candidate's ability to flap his or her lips.

Well, Chris Christie doesn't yet have a lot of executive experience, but he's setting himself up to go get him some real quick or die trying:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie refused to back down Tuesday from his demand that teachers take a pay freeze and start contributing to their health care benefits as the state teachers union declined to take action against a local boss who prayed for the governor's death.

And here is the nub of the whole great big problem:

He added that the state's system is unsustainable because teachers who contribute $124,000 during their lifetime for their pensions get $3.3 million in pension payments and $500,000 in health care benefits

That's a taste.  Read the whole thing.  Let's be honest: no worker would be happy to see what he's attempting to force on the teachers of New Jersey. But guess what, in this increasingly bad economy, all the rest of us poor proles have already had it forced on us. And whether they like it or not, government employees are going to have to face the music sometime.  The question is whether the nation and all the local governments man-up and do what needs to be done before Adam Smith's Invisible Hand does it for us.  If Christie can rein in the New Jersey unions, particularly with all that goes along with unions in New Jersey, he will have proven that he is a guy who can Get Things Done, which is exactly what Fiscally Responsible Conservatives need.

IF he can succeed in his mission in New Jersey, I think in 2012, he could be a top contender.  I think (again, assuming Christie is successful) a Christie/Ryan ticket would be unstoppable.

However, I'm not a blind follower of Messiahs (well, at least not 21st century ones) and I admit that he still has to follow through with what he's not just talked about, but actually begun.  If the goombas in New Jersey stop him cold, then he's just another Republican governor, not Conservatives Great Big Hope.

Go Big Man!