Chris Christie has weirdly decided his path to the presidency runs straight through New Jersey. He is Jersey born and bred. Perhaps his hope is that if he can raise his New Jersey poll numbers it will reinvigorate the northeastern donor base.
It was a lovely announcement speech that left you no doubt that he loves his mom and his grandmothers and his dad and his wife and his kids and that he prides himself on being a plainspoken blunt truth-teller from Livingston, N.J., just as aspirational in his biography as that Cuban from Florida, not at all like those evil dudes from both parties down in Washington who don’t know they work for us.
He positioned himself, a trifle oddly, as a kind of combative crusader for compromise. But compromise about what in favor of what? That is a truth he did not tell. He will fix our broken entitlement systems by making hard choices. But which choices? Today he did not tell. He will create 4 percent growth by changing our tax code and regulations—how and why he did not tell.
But fear not, he is the Caped Compromiser. He has your best interest at heart.
Somehow I don’t think this is going to work.
Maggie Gallagher is a senior fellow at American Principles in Action.
