Guarantee: Christie will not follow Obama into the White House

There are few things more difficult in American politics to predict than who will become president. Connolly, Giuliani, Lindsay, Graham, Thompson are just five names, who in my lifetime were locks for the GOP nomination and none of their campaigns survived the first lap.

Yet, although we pile up former White House frontrunners like cordwood, the conservative commentariat has already locked in Republican Gov. Christopher J. Christie. There are three reasons Christie will not drive a U-Haul to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The first is too easy. The mainstream media will turn on Christie as soon as the Democratic nominee is ready to go. This is made all the easier by a thoughtful research dump by ticked off aides to former Massachusetts governor W. Mitt Romney, who repaid Christie for his endorsement of President Barack Obama during their post-Sandy walk on the beach. The second reason is that there is a strong GOP bench of candidates battle-tested in ways Christie can never imagine, which flows into the third reason. Americans elect a president hoping he has a program and the leadership to achieve it.

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Christie has neither.

Bully, bully

The Republican leadership is so disconnected from the everyday realities that during the same week the nation becomes obsessed with bullying in NFL locker rooms, the GOP leaders anoint the country’s second or third most obnoxious bully the party’s savior. As for winning the Christie Way, let’s not forget, the Garden State governor scheduled the special election to fill the vacant Senate seat three weeks before the election precisely so the GOP candidate would not share his coattails. It was the perfect inducement for then-Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker to take the path of least resistance to Capitol Hill, instead of a bruising battle against Christie—an election Booker would have won. Along the way to his rigged re-election, Christie cut deals with Trenton Democrats behind the backs of fellow Republicans, worked to restrict gun rights and lifted nary a finger to restore legal protections to the unborn. In the great battle over the enactment of the 2011 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Christie abandoned the field. From the very beginning, the governor accepted delivery of the boatload of federal cash President Barack Obama offered him to expand Medicaid and he enthusiastically established a New Jersey health care insurance exchange. Of course, when Republican governors and attorneys general sued to overturn ObamaCare, Christie declined to join them. In this short case study, we see that Christie wins by being all flash and no bang. In fact, the only example of Christie taking on a serious challenge was his battle against the public employees, it was a fight already set in motion by the man he defeated in 2009, Jon S. Corzine, and a fight Corzine would have continued if reelected. All of this begs the question: What is the point of winning elections? For Republicans like Christie, the holding of elective office is about pride and power, but not about a program of governing consistent with traditional American ideals and values, now called conservatism. Is there any doubt that a Christie White House synched up with GOP leaders on Capitol Hill will grant amnesty to illegal aliens? Restrict gun rights? Raise taxes? Or fully fund a robust program of nationalized health care? Now compare Christie with other Republican candidates and ask the same questions. Wisconsin Gov. Scott K. Walker, Kentucky Sen. Randall H. Paul, Texas Sen. R. Edward Cruz and even Florida Sen. Marco A. Rubio would all not only provide more conservative magisteria, they would take the fight to the liberals, as they have in the past. Write it down: Christie will not be president in 2017. He lacks the principles and the passion, and the sooner Republicans focus on another candidate, the sooner the real work of winning the White House back begins.