Opinion: Sandy: The Match-Maker Of All Match-Makers
Who would have thought that Hurricane Sandy would turn out to be the match-maker of all match-makers during her brief but impactful visit to New Jersey this week? Two political foes have shared headlines in many newspapers, news broadcasts, and bloggers’ blurbs for the past day. As odd as it seems, President Barack Obama and Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey are in the midst of a marvelous “bromance”.
The nation is doing a double-take at the photos that are being splashed across the television screens and front pages of newspapers. Sandy has truly accomplished the impossible.
On Wednesday, President Obama and the New Jersey Governor were side by side in Atlantic City to look over the devastation caused by Sandy, the latest hurricane which hit the United States’ eastern coast in the past few days.
Giving nearly unbelievable, over-the-top praise of President Obama, the Republican Governor has come out in total approval of the president’s handling of the super-storm known as Hurricane Sandy. Obama is stepping up, as a president should, and responding to the area which has experienced power outages throughout the devastated state accompanied by billions upon billions of dollars in losses via the storm’s damage.
While it may not be that odd that a governor would show some appreciation toward a president’s concern about his state’s horrendous occurrence, it is somewhat startling to see Christie going over-the-top with praise. Anyone who follows politics who would be asked to name President Obama’s biggest political foes would likely name Gov. Chris Christie within the first three-or-four names – certainly within the first five.
Let’s see. There would be Mitt Romney as Obama’s biggest foe right now, and then there would be “birther” turned “show some documents for $5 million” Donald Trump, and then probably Chris Christie would be considered his third biggest foe.
Yet, when the two political opposites, Obama and Christie met on the tarmac at Atlantic City’s airport at approximately 1:00 yesterday afternoon to board a helicopter to tour the state’s damage, the moment appeared beyond business-like, and more like the beginning of a “broman-ship”.
There was none of the Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona’s pointing-of-a-finger in the president’s face as we saw previously on the tarmac in Phoenix, Arizona. And that’s likely what the press was waiting for – a great photo op. However, the photo op was turned sour to the near-fawning of Obama by Christie.
So, Democrats are likely shocked that Christie actually has a nice side after all while the Republics are saying: What the hell? Being cordial is one thing, but overdoing it just days before the national election makes one wonder what Christie drank for lunch before meeting the president.
Of course, the virtual near-embrace could be diminished were it not for the fact that Christie could be doing so many other things right now to assist his fellow-New Jersey residents. Christie, as well as the president, could be publicly asking for the public’s Hurricane Sandy relief donations as Romney has been doing the past few days. Or, Christie could be alerting his constituents of possible hurricane scams which occur far too often after a devastating occurrence by unscrupulous persons who try to take financial advantage of those ill-affected by a disaster.
Hopefully, the “bromance”, of sorts, won’t last more than a day or two – so that Christie’s nasty side can reemerge and help Romney win this presidential election.
About Scott Paulson
Scott Paulson writes political commentary for Examiner.com and teaches English at a community college in the Chicago area. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CBS Local.
