Opinion: Christie's 'Making America Great Again' Routine Nothing But Shtick

Peter Kikot is a Democratic candidate for the Oakland Council. He is the president of the Oakland-Franklin Lakes Rotary Club, past president of the Ridgewood AM Rotary Club, as well as the owner of New Jersey Landscape Consulting Services.

Chris Christie's introduction of his upbringing, his values, the hard work of his parents, that's all good stuff. Those are important things to share because we can all relate to it. 

I am not sure what he meant by politicians wanting to be loved, I think they really want our money and we are more likely to give money to those we love. Politicians, especially those running for congress or governor, pander to special interests because running a campaign takes a lot of money. Addressing campaign finance reform would have been more real....talking about politicians wanting to be loved is a little silly.

I was not impressed with the "making America great again" routine. That has been a central theme of every modern campaign since John F. Kennedy, and I don't buy into it. America is great now, we have problems just like every other country, but America is great and our duty lies in preserving that greatness.

His call for elected leaders to work together was good, crossing party lines to do the job you are elected to do.

Christie has done that in NJ, he's gotten bipartisan support to reform government; I think he can do more. And the sacrifices he has asked of  NJ's middle class, he also needs to ask of his political supporters, those people who donate heavily because they happen to love him. Many in NJ have sacrificed more than others, we should all share in the sacrifices.

His spirit of bipartisanship was short lived in the speech since it soon became a list of, We're Good For America, and They Are Bad For America. It was a political speech, a campaign speech, a Republican speech, so there is going to be some of that, but it took away from what might have been a chance to work towards that bipartisan spirit we need.

He could have given a speech that showed he was a leader for all Americans, not just Republicans. The convention is really about Mitt Romney, and Christie can't really upstage Romney. 

Overall, a good speech, but it could have been better, it could have been more real.

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