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Honest question: what's the appeal of Christie and the State he governs?
I moved here in early '10 and am looking to leave almost as quickly as I got here. Christie was absolutely the right choice in '09, in my opinion. I was surprised THAT election was so close. But since then, I don't understand the lovefest. Just to cover a few things from where I stand...
The majority of the state seems to disagree with him on many issues -- e.g., he vetoed the will of the legislature (and the people, based on recent polls), with respect to the minimum wage hike and gay marriage.
He claims to have "reformed" compensation for public workers, but these reforms seem to have targeted only certain kinds of public workers while others' bloated/double-dipped pensions remain mostly unscathed. While taxes haven't gone up at the insane pace they used to, the townships around me have been cutting services left and right, nickeling and diming people with higher fines, permit fees, etc. Tolls and public transportation fares have indeed gone up since I've been here.
So if it's not substance is it style? I'm not seeing that either. Most of the "bipartisan" stuff he talks about involved back-room deals with Democrat bosses. And the insistence of shouting down someone w/o a microphone and getting the last word is worshiped as "Jersey attitude". As sort of an outsider, trying to get away from a rude part of NYC, I see him, as my family would say, a "gavone". Do most people out here really prefer this approach? Why? (I could understand perfectly if the answer is that it's better than most other alternatives available at the times of his elections.) And what's all this bragging about NJ -- to what great things about the state is he vaguely referring?
I'm more curious than anything else -- looking for the thoughts of supporters and opponents alike. Thanks.
Most of his budgeting shenanigans aren't widely known or understood. Dropping the ARC tunnel $ in the highway fund so he doesn't have to raise the gas tax or deal with the funding problems, for example. I'm not in favor of ARC, but he just poured some more money into a long-term hole without any real attempt to fix it. There's various other examples.
His backwards social views compared to the rest of the state aren't viewed as important, because with the Dems in control of the rest of the state, he can't really impose anything and gets overruled often on them.
Buono is not really a candidate anyone liked, and she didn't prove to be very capable of getting any message out. Even looking through her campaign site, it doesn't hit any of the right notes for getting anyone but pure party-line Dems to vote for her, and they already were.
Unfortunately, NJ has many low information voters who have chosen Christie's "style" over substance. The National Dems let this race crash before the race even started. And the backroom deals with the South Jersey and Essex County Democratic mob did not help either. Lots of problems here. The fact that Christie was Bernie Madoff's lobbyist will not be overlooked in a national election. Governor Wall Street will have to answer to that and also the stories about the Todd Christie situation which were missed in this race.
He has like a rock star appeal to him. The media loves him and drools over him the way they USED to drool over Obama. I live in the shore area and it's still is devasted just about everyone I know said they would NOT vote for him because he gives the impression that the area is fixed. He still won almost 2 to 1 here.
Unfortunately, NJ has many low information voters who have chosen Christie's "style" over substance. The National Dems let this race crash before the race even started. And the backroom deals with the South Jersey and Essex County Democratic mob did not help either. Lots of problems here. The fact that Christie was Bernie Madoff's lobbyist will not be overlooked in a national election. Governor Wall Street will have to answer to that and also the stories about the Todd Christie situation which were missed in this race.
Did the same voters elect Obama by a wide margin last year?
Did the same voters elect Booker?
And did the same voters maintain the Democratic majority in both houses?
I always enjoy the morning-after litany of excuses and blame from both sides when "their" candidate loses. Much of the same tone flowed from the right last November concerning the "low info voters" who elected the President.
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Everything else aside, however - whomever the person was in charge of the Buono campaign should never work in politics again. That may have been one of the most ineffectual, disjointed and poorly managed political campaigns for higher office that we have seen in decades.
I'd like to know the perception from those out of state who are looking at him starry eyed for the prez. nomination moreso than ppl who live here. i'd like to know what they believe he's done here that makes him worthy.
I think that's it, "leadership". He took charge and did something, and most politicians just sit there and *** and collect their paychecks and plan their next elections. He does that, too, but he did do what he had to do to get things moving for the shore.
Don't get me wrong. I am not the biggest Christie fan for reasons that I don't even want to go into on here. But is isn't hard to see his appeal to people who are sick of the constant blah blah blah and back-and-forth insult-fest that seems to be all politics is about these days.
I'd like to know the perception from those out of state who are looking at him starry eyed for the prez. nomination moreso than ppl who live here. i'd like to know what they believe he's done here that makes him worthy.
I think the appeal of CC to out-of-staters - at this point - is more style than substance. In more than one article he has been described as having a 'rock star' persona, and that the 'camera loves him'
It is the rare person who follows out-of-state politicians very closely before they enter the national stage of a primary or election cycle, whether they are governors or DC-elected officials. There are those that get the face time on the news shows which gives them name recognition and a degree of fame. Most people if asked about a person will give a favorable view of them if the recognize the name/face and don't already hold a negative view of them.
CC is a media personality; for many that is all they really know of him. If/when he declares for 2016, that scrutiny will intensify.
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