Opinion: Chris Christie Is In The Wrong Business
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is obviously in the wrong business. He is becoming more of a television celebrity by the minute and getting much better reviews as a television performer than a governmental performer.
Truth be told, Christie pretty much destroyed his credibility with the Republican Party by embracing President Barack Obama just before the presidential election. No, that move didn’t cause GOP presidential challenger Mitt Romney to lose the election, but – honestly – it did help Obama. So now that Christie is seen as a huge part of the Republican Party’s problem – no pun intended – by embracing the competition, he might as well do what he’s successful at. And if you’ve been watching the nightly news and entertainment television programs, you’ve seen – no doubt – where Christie shines on both types of television shows.
Last week, Christie was the highlight of the nightly news – side by side with the stories about ex-CIA Director David Petraeus’ adulterous affair, biographer-mistress Paula Broadwell, and Tampa’s now-most-famous-ever social climber Jill Kelley. In fact, the Christie story about Twinkies and the love-life of Petraeus and his women pushed the story about President Barack Obama and the deadly 9-11 Benghazi, Libya attack up to or beyond the first bank of commercials on the nightly news.
The teasers leading up to the nightly news weren’t about Obama and the Libya investigation; instead, they were about Christie refusing to talk Twinkies behind his press conference microphone.
Thats right. Last Friday, New Jersey Chris Christie was at a press conference and some wise guy reporter, apparently with the wink of an eye, asked Christie about Twinkies in regard to the closing of Hostess. While the real story is that yet another major business in the United States has gone belly-up and has laid off thousands upon thousands of American workers in this Obama economy – which will continue for four more years – reporters made “circus” of it all by asking the multi-hundred-pounder politician from New Jersey about Twinkies. Sadly funny.
Beyond that great television viewing, the next night the governor of New Jersey was on NBC’s Saturday Night Live with Seth Meyers on the “Weekend Update” portion of the program. Again, Christie was a television sensation – an incredible hit. As Christie thanked those that helped his state through the bulk of the super-storm Sandra, he scolded Meyers at every turn to make light of his governing style as a no-nonsense tough guy. In comedic style, he badgered his state’s uncooperative mayors who refused to have their city’s citizens evacuate before Sandra hit shore. He also took a funny stab at news reporters and cameramen for standing in the middle of the Sandra super-storm to film what people from New Jersey could see right from their windows – unless they evacuated, of course.
How long will it take Christie to realize that his future is in show business and not in politics? After all, he fell from favor with his own political Party, and there’s little chance the other Party wants or needs him – in spite of his current coziness with the president. Yet, television ratings are in desperate need of his self-characteristic comedy – and he proved in the past few days that he can get those ratings just by taking the stage.
Imagine how much he could get paid for advertising for fleece apparel right now. He could retire on that kind of money.
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.
