Daniel Henninger in the WSJ Has Unrequited Love for NJ Gov. Chris Christie

Why the New Jersey Governor Really Didn’t Run

Conservatives became enamored with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie because even though he did the same as other governors, both Democratic and Republican, in cutting state spending on education and not imposing new taxes, he did it in a confrontational and belligerent manner.  In the Conservative world it is not enough to enact Conservative policies, one has to be “in your face” about it.

As a result of his persona Mr. Christie became a favorite of Republicans who were dissatisfied with the current Presidential field.  He became even more of a favorite because he said he didn’t want to run, didn’t think he was ready to be President and was not particularly interested in running. He made it official this past week.

Daniel Henninger who writes on the opinion/editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal is clearly disappointed.  Mr. Henninger is obviously an admirer of Mr. Christie and had these things to say about him and his prospective candidacy.

Gov. Christie has come across the Hudson River a number of times to talk to the Journal's editorial-page writers. We've heard a lot of his high-velocity rhetoric. Often overlooked when he's performing this verbal magic is that about 80% of what Gov. Christie says is drab detail about New Jersey's budget, pension crisis, schools situation, property taxes and the rest. He flat-out knows New Jersey.

No offense Mr. Henninger but if Hannibal Lechter appeared before the Journal’s editorial board and said he was restricting his eating habits to teacher’s unions officials he would impress the Journal’s editorial page writers.

On Mr. Christie’s smarts there is this.

If Chris Christie knew as much as Paul Ryan does about entitlements, ObamaCare, the details of the U.S. budget and federal tax policy, he'd have rolled over the incumbent like a (insert your heavyweight metaphor here).

If one listens to Mr. Christie it is clear he is much smarter than Mr. Ryan.  Mr. Ryan has received the adulation of people like the WSJ editors not because of his intellect, which is sorely lacking but because his proposal on health care would destroy Medicare, a 40+ year goal of Conservatives. 

So why did Mr. Christie not run?  Here Mr. Henninger is on to something.  Christie’s candidacy

would have worked only if the Republican base had been willing to cut him slack on performance and ideology. Pickup-team campaign organizations make mistakes, but with our politics bordering on the tribal, there's no patience for the merest whiff of heresy. Ask Rick Perry, now bogged down in the immigration quicksand. Some similar act of imperfection awaited Chris Christie. The purifying furies of the Web forest would have been on him in minutes.

This is likely correct.  Mr. Christie did not run because there was not enough time to make the race and probably he did not want to hear the endless jokes about this weight.  But primarily he did not run because his positions would not have met the purity test of Conservatives.  When it came out, for example, that not only had he appointed a Muslim as a NJ judge, he also defended that appointment, Mr. Christie knew that Conservatives would viscously attack him, probably including Mr. Henninger.

See, Mr. Christie is smarter than Paul Ryan.  He knows what is unpopular whereas Mr. Ryan and the WSJ have yet to recognize that Republican Presidential candidates have run as fast as they can from Mr. Ryan's "kill Medicare" plans.