Chris Christie: Taking No For an Answer

Image via WikipediaChris Christie, the current Governor of New Jersey, has been in office for less than one term.  In that time, he's distinguished himself nationally as a tough-talking, take-no-prisoners executive who enacted headline-making budget reforms.  He's also just as embarrassed by the effect Snooki, The Situation, and the rest of the "Jersey Shore" gang has had on his state's image as you are--enough to deny the TV show a tax credit.

When the Republicans began pestering Christie to run for President in 2012 as an alternative to the Romneys, Perrys and Bachmanns of the world, the Governor always told them no, he's not interested.  He's also said the same thing to the media in what seems like a thousand times.  Trouble is, the more Christie keeps saying 'no' (and he's been using more elaborate settings like the Reagan Library to get his point across), the more party officials and political pundits take that to mean he's coming around to 'yes'.

What part of 'no' don't they understand?

Christie may be reluctant to challenge President Barack Obama because his abrasive style might be at odds with the diplomatic demands of the job.  One wonders what would happen if he met with, let's say, Chinese leaders and told them what he really thought of them in less-than-diplomatic language.

Christie may be a conservative, but not as far-right as the other guys are.  That could hurt him with a Tea Party-fueled electorate cheering executions and booing gay soldiers.

Sorry, but this has to be said.  Governor Christie might become the first overweight President since William Howard Taft, who also happened to be Republican.  Television wasn't around 100 years ago, and nobody gave a rip about obesity back then.  The Presidency is a demanding job, and Christie may or may not have the stamina for it unless he loses a few pounds.

If Christie really wanted to run for President, he should have started a long time ago.  Campaign financing and the crunch of primaries being what they are, it may already be too late for him to jump into the race.

Finally, Governor Chris Christie has been saying no because he just isn't interested.  Period.  Check back with him in 2016.

UPDATE:  Christie has officially announced that he's not running, which means that the GOP is stuck with either Mitt Romney or Rick Perry as their 2012 standard-bearer.  And we haven't even had the primaries yet.