{"id":40802236005,"date":"2012-08-29T14:50:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-29T18:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/2012\/08\/29\/what-chris-christie-really-said\/"},"modified":"2021-01-25T11:22:05","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T16:22:05","slug":"what-chris-christie-really-said","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/2012\/08\/29\/what-chris-christie-really-said\/","title":{"rendered":"What Chris Christie Really Said"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cross-posted at\u00a0PolitickerNJ<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The reaction to Chris Christie\u2019s speech in a nutshell?\u00a0 Hard core Republicans are disappointed he didn\u2019t call Barack Obama an \u201cidiot\u201d and hard core Democrats are disappointed he did not say he was \u201ctired of dealing with the crazies\u201d in his own party.\u00a0 If you look past these unrealistic expectations, though, you will find a speech that is a throwback to loftier days of partisan battles.\u00a0 Chris Christie\u00a0 engaged in the kind of rhetoric that politicians should use more often.<\/p>\n

Yes, you read that correctly!\u00a0 Let me explain.<\/p>\n

First we need to acknowledge that this speech was more about Chris Christie than anything else.\u00a0 I think the Romney camp would have been happier if he delivered only the middle part of the speech, where he laid out the differences between Republican and Democratic ideas and gave a rousing call for Mitt Romney\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

If you read between the lines, though, he laid out a clear and compelling vision of where he wants the Republican Party to position itself.\u00a0 He told us what he feels the Republican Party \u2013 and by extension, American politics \u2013 should be about.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind, I am not judging his speech on its accuracy.\u00a0 Certainly, when he talked about balancing the budget with \u201clower taxes,\u201d a typical New Jerseyan\u2019s income and property tax statements may tell a different story.\u00a0 Moreover, claims that his brand of \u201cbipartisanship\u201d is transferable are debatable.<\/p>\n

However, to judge his speech solely on its accuracy is an unfair test.\u00a0 All political speeches bend the truth.\u00a0 The question is how much confidence in our political system was evident in this speech.<\/p>\n

An odd question, to be sure.\u00a0 But if you listen to the partisan din coming from both the left and the right, our country\u2019s political dialogue has degenerated.\u00a0 Political debate has boiled down to competing assertions that Armageddon is imminent if the other side wins.<\/p>\n

Hard-core partisans of both stripes give lip service to the \u201cgenius\u201d of our system of government, but their words tell a much different story.\u00a0 Their fire and brimstone rhetoric reveals a deep-seated lack of faith that our republic can survive four years of being governed under a political philosophy other than their own.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that they simply disagree with the other party\u2019s agenda \u2013 it\u2019s that the other party\u2019s agenda by definition, is the handiwork of Satan.\u00a0 And unfortunately, when these hard core ideologues gain power, they create the kind of gridlock that proves them right.\u00a0 Perhaps our system of government is in peril \u2013 not because either side is completely wrong, but because neither side is completely right and isn\u2019t humble enough to admit it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s on this measure that I judge Chris Christie\u2019s speech a success.<\/p>\n

The governor talked about the Republican Party being the party that is willing to talk in hard truths and hard choices.\u00a0 And how Republican leadership leads to success.\u00a0 He also drew clear distinctions between the two parties \u2013 about who they stand with and what they believe.\u00a0 He attacked Democrats to be sure \u2013 as the party afraid to face hard truths and make tough choices; the party that believes people are not willing to make sacrifices; and the party that stands more with unions than workers.\u00a0 He even got in a dig against the incumbent president being overly concerned with opinion polls.<\/p>\n

He summed up his view of the Republican brand by saying \u201cOur ideas are right for America and their ideas have failed America.\u201d\u00a0 He could have easily said that the Democrats\u2019 ideas have \u201cdestroyed\u201d America, as others in his party have.\u00a0 So, it is commendable that he did not engage in, literally, destructive rhetoric.<\/p>\n

What he avoided talking about at all is also revealing.\u00a0 Earlier in the convention, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell summed up much of the day by boiling down the GOP platform to \u201cthe sanctity of life, the 2nd<\/sup> amendment, and a balanced budget\u201d \u2013 apparently in that order.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it was glaringly obvious that priorities number 1 and 2 were completely absent from Christie\u2019s speech. He was saying regardless of what we personally believe on social issues they should not dominate our political discourse.\u00a0 Christie\u2019s ability to separate his views on social issues from his governing agenda has brought him success in New Jersey.\u00a0 Of course, the question remains whether he can become a national contender without taking on those issues, but his speech indicated that he\u2019s going to try.<\/p>\n

In the end, hardcore partisans \u2013 those who reside in their respective echo chambers \u2013 emerged with strongly divergent views of Christie\u2019s performance.\u00a0 But I was most intrigued by the feedback I heard from some longtime Democratic voters who watched the speech.<\/p>\n

They are not fans of Chris Christie and don\u2019t agree with his policies here in New Jersey.\u00a0 As may be expected, they didn\u2019t think he gave a great speech.\u00a0 However, the most telling commentary from these Democrats was that the speech \u201cdidn\u2019t bother\u201d them.\u00a0 They would never vote Republican, but they weren\u2019t fearful of the vision Christie laid out.<\/p>\n

So, I judge Chris Christie\u2019s speech a success because he was able to be partisan without demonizing the other side.\u00a0 And that is a major step in the right direction.<\/p>\n

Of course, we\u2019ll have to see if this kindler, gentler Christie is still evident at his next Jersey Shore boardwalk confrontation. \u00a0For one night, though, Chris Christie gave us a glimpse of what a respectful, partisan campaign can look like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cross-posted at\u00a0PolitickerNJ The reaction to Chris Christie\u2019s speech in a nutshell?\u00a0 Hard core Republicans are disappointed he didn\u2019t call Barack Obama an \u201cidiot\u201d and hard core Democrats are disappointed he did not say he was \u201ctired of dealing with the crazies\u201d in his own party.\u00a0 If you look past these unrealistic expectations, though, you will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":939,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40802236005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802236005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/939"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40802236005"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802236005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40802244158,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802236005\/revisions\/40802244158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40802236005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40802236005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40802236005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}