By Mark Baisley
Sunday, January 12, 2014
I have been hot and cold with Chris Christie over the
years. I have cheered his bold tongue-lashings of union thugs and cringed at
his lackluster defense of 2nd Amendment rights. But the New Jersey Governor
recently revealed the deepest introspection that I have heard from any leader
of late, and I believe that his sentiments deserve notice.
Every objective spectator of American social life
recognizes the near-comical level of media bias on display in the recent flap
surrounding the intentional New Jersey bridge traffic jam. With the level of
attention being paid to this story, you would think that Christie had stranded
diplomats under attack in Benghazi. But the Governor’s rejoinder to this petty
scandal has been remarkable. And frankly, I did not have Christie on my
personal list of president considerations – until now.
The George Washington Bridge spans the Hudson River,
connecting New York with New Jersey. This past September, two access lanes of
this essential route were closed for days, bringing commuter traffic to a
crawl. The commuters from the nearby borough of Fort Lee took the brunt of the
logjam.
It recently came to light that Governor Christie’s deputy
chief of staff invoked the bridge lane closures with a subtle email to a
political ally at the Port Authority. The traffic jam was intended as
retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat who endorsed
Christie's opponent in the 2013 gubernatorial campaign.
Chris Christie took the podium last week for a press
conference that should be held as the example for every chief executive who
finds himself in a public crisis. His initial written statement was released on
the very day that the Governor learned of the misconduct. Directly addressing
the public took a mere 24 hours. Christie’s preparation for the press
conference included gaining a comprehensive understanding of the facts and
firing the people responsible. His public resolve even prompted those involved
at the Port Authority to retain criminal defense attorneys.
The three components of Governor Christie’s press
conference that impressed me most were (1) his opening statement, (2) his
seizing responsibility, and above all (3) his abject humility. Christie seemed
anxious to publicly deliver his initial sentiments with, “I come out here to
apologize to the people of New Jersey.” In taking responsibility, he announced
the specific consequences in ridding his office of those involved. After the
conference, the Governor drove to Fort Lee to personally deliver his apology to
Mayor Mark Sokolich.
The Governor stood before the press for an hour and forty
minutes, letting them exhaust every question in their role as public
investigators for the people of his state. But the humility that seized my
attention was when Christie delivered this statement to a tough question: “It
makes me ask about me, ‘What did I do wrong to have these folks think it was OK
to lie to me?’ And there's a lot of soul-searching that goes around with this.
You know, when you're a leader of an organization – and I've had this happen to
me before, where I've had folks not tell me the truth about something – not
since I've been governor but in previous leadership positions – you always
wonder about what you could do differently. And believe me, John, I haven't had
a lot of sleep the last two nights, and I've been doing a lot of
soul-searching. I'm sick over this. I've worked for the last 12 years in public
life developing a reputation for honesty and directness and blunt talk, one
that I think is well-deserved. But, you know, when something like this happens,
it's appropriate for you to question yourself, and certainly I am. And I am
soul-searching on this.”
Christie’s critics from the left will seize the
opportunity to kick this prostrate man who has caused them so much anxiety. But
compare his humble watershed with the response to the countless scandals of the
Democratic Party’s standard bearer. President Obama arrogantly referred to the
attention given to the Benghazi, Fast & Furious, and Obamacare failures as
an "endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony
scandals." Yesterday, after seven months of dragging their feet, the Obama
Administration finally appointed someone to investigate the horrific abuses of
government taxation power against Tea Party groups. And with an insulting
backhand, the President assigned a Democratic political fox, Barbara Bosserman,
to watch the IRS henhouse.
The incompetence of this Administration will keep
Congressman Darrell Issa’s Oversight and Government Reform Committee in a state
of continuous hearings throughout the remainder of the current presidency. Of
course, categorizing Barack Obama as a short-sighted, incompetent puppet of
George Soros is to generously grant the President the benefit of the doubt. To
otherwise assert that Obama knows what he is doing would be far more
disparaging.
I am a very conservative consumer of politics, meaning
that I look for candidates who will conserve our nation’s original founding
principles. So when an east coast politician tosses his hat in the ring, I
routinely toss it back out like an undersized fish. But Christie’s proper
response in a moment of calamity has my attention. I am still holding on to the
stout man’s fedora.
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