New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Shows He Doesn’t Understand How Government Works

Which Makes Him a Perfect Candidate for the Republicans

Although it has nothing to do with him, New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie has weighed in on how he would solve the problem of a government shutdown over failure by the Republicans in Congress to fund the government.

Christie blames the shutdown on the president's failure of leadership. | AP PhotoCourse he does, never mind those Republicans who voted to shut down the government

“No matter where the partisanship is, the failure is in people not bringing people together to get it done. My approach would be, as the executive, is to call in the leaders of the Congress, the legislature, whatever you’re dealing with and say that we’re not leaving this room until we fix this problem. Because I’m the boss, I’m in charge,” Christie said hours before the government shut down on Monday night after Congress failed to reach a deal on funding.

Uh no, Mr. Christie, in this situation the President is not in charge.  Even the Speaker of the House is not in charge.  Politics has evolved so that each Republican Representative is in a safe Republican district and for the most part cannot be defeated.  He or she cannot be controlled because campaign financing is independent of the Party, so the leaders of the Party have no control over their members.  The leadership has no leverage.

Here’s a cautionary note to Mr. Christie.  If he is ultimately elected to the Presidency he will learn this lesson, and he will learn it the hard way.  His biggest enemies will be Conservative House Republicans.

Wise up before you run for President Mr. Christie, wise up.