Keller @ Large: When Ego Overwhelms Common Sense
BOSTON (CBS) - Here's a fun political question for you: if Gov. Patrick, two months before his re-election in 2010, had ordered a traffic study in the Sumner Tunnel that caused gridlocked traffic for days in East Boston; and if we subsequently found out that some of the governor's closest aides had ordered up the nightmare strictly to punish an East Boston politician for not supporting Patrick's re-election, how would you react?
Listen to Jon's commentary:
Let me guess – you'd want to see video of the governor personally firing the offenders, then abjectly apologizing to the public for allowing such a dangerous, selfish travesty to occur.
And if you found out that the governor himself had known about it, or tried to cover it up once he found out about it, you'd want the governor himself to be held accountable, big-time.
Gov. Patrick has had some fiascos on his watch, like the drug-lab scandal, but he is way too serious about his work to ever get involved in something like this.
Instead, it's New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who is neck deep in political disaster, after e-mails revealed his aides punishing the mayor and residents of Fort Lee, New Jersey by shutting down lanes on the George Washington Bridge, then gloating about it among themselves.
Christie says this is the first he's heard of it, and if he's lying about his ignorance, his political career is over. Even if he didn't know what was going on, he's exposed as an arrogant boob who created a toxic culture in his own office.
Either way, let this stand as exhibit A of what happens when a pol's ego overwhelms his common sense, and he forgets that it's not all about him, but about the people he's supposed to be serving, not torturing.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.