Chris Christie and Common Sense

A man who later identified himself as a local dentist saw me reading the newspaper at Starbucks recently and, seeing something about the economy on the front page, moaned some epithet about President Obama.

OK. I took the bait.

"What's your criticism?" I asked him. He went on to complain about the size of the national debt and about how his own take-home pay has gone from 80% of his fees to 20%.

"But Obama isn't responsible for the debt," I pointed out. "President Bush took us into two wars with no plan to pay for them." He confessed that I was right.

"Tell me," I continued. "Do you think that Barack Obama is an evil person?"

"No," he quickly retreated from the implication of his imprecation.

"Do you think he is a 'bad' person?" I pressed.

"No," he agreed.

"Do you think he's a stupid person?" I concluded.

"No. He's brilliant," the dentist asserted. "Then what do you have against him"--I insisted on knowing.

It turns out that he has nothing against the President. He is unhappy with many things in government and many things about America and since President Obama is, among many other things, such as Commander-in-Chief, a SYMBOL of America, Obama becomesthe target of all his displeasure and anxiety.

President Obama is a good person and a smart person. We need such a person to lead us in solving the very difficult and troubling problems that we face. We do not need someone who so affable that we'd want to invite him to dinner. We need someone who is cool-headed and reflective and who listens to others' views.

Most people know this. Thus Obama will win the next election. But this near certainty won't sell TV ads or attract TV viewers to the talking heads, so instead they give disproportionate attention to the voices of dissent and even hate.

New Jersey Governor Christie is no dummy. He knows this, too. Under all the public reasons that he gives for not seeking the Republican presidential nomination at this time is the real reason: he knows he cannot defeat President Obama.

Rational Republicans know that their party will just be offering a sacrificial lamb in this 2012 election. That's why so many ask, Where have all the Republican moderates gone? They know that this is not an election they can win.

They know that the majority of Americans wanted health care insurance reform, an end to Don't Ask Don't Tell, a shift to drone attacks in Afghanistan, restoration of some major regulatory rules that W. undid in the previous administration, and a host of other Obama achievements that made the super-wealthy unhappy. If anyone can rein in the growing power of America's financial elite it is Barack Obama. And even he is having a very difficult time at it.

Gov. Christie will be happy to wait until 2016 when he may have a chance to win.