The matter of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and what has become known as “Bridgegate” has been politically pundited to near death. But let us beg the forgiveness of our readers if we do a little political pontification of our own.

There are three principle ways to look at the Christie affair.

First is that the wish of many Democrats and some Republicans comes true – that Christie implodes because of Bridgegate and falls from grace with voters all together.

For Democrats that would eliminate someone who is currently the front-runner for the Republican nomination and someone who contrasts well with the current wishy-washy occupant of the White House. And if he survives “Bridgegate” … (So we don’t get ahead of ourselves, wait for outcome number three below.)

We offer this thought because Christie had the guts (or smarts) to can some of those involved in causing one of the world’s largest traffic jams which repeated itself over four days between New Jersey and New York City.

President Obama, on the other hand and to the extent he takes credit for screw-ups like the implementation of Obamacare, can’t see his way clear to fire anyone. He just lets them ride off into the sunset or pretends nothing is wrong. Of the latter we offer Attorney General Eric Holder’s handling of Fast and Furious. For the former, we point to the contractor responsible for all the glitches when Healthcare.gov went live. The company wasn’t fired. Its executives simply decide not to pick up the option to continue working on the project.

Another way of looking at the Christie mess – and what we are surprised is not the Democratic Party’s clear and ultimate goal – is to have Bridgegate hang around for another year or two. This would give party henchmen another opportunity to paint all Republicans as mean-spirited bullies. Guilt by association, it’s called. The Christie controversy would also serve as a great distraction into the presidential primary season which could keep the GOP off message.

The third possibility – and the most feared by Democrats and some disgruntled Republicans – is for Christie to come up smelling like a rose. No smoking gun, no erased tapes, no have to read the bill before you know what’s in it. Just a governor, who by the presidential campaign season, can say he learned a valuable lesson (we would add: before taking office rather than learning on the run like President Obama.)

We can’t say we are sold on a Christie run for the White House, let alone seeing him sit in the Oval Office. But it certainly is refreshing to see and hear a politician who isn’t afraid to take on some of the jackals which make up mainstream national press corps. And to subject himself to a two-hour long interrogation.

We also kind of like his “take your question and shove it” attitude which he invokes at times.

That said – or written – we are not yet sure he is presidential material. As noted above, a lot is yet to transpire as Bridgegate spins out and we learn who knew what and when they knew it.

Foster’s Daily Democrat

Dover

Jan. 20

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