Galindez writes: "A stretch limo pulls up to the Marriott in West Des Moines. Out pops a short, chubby guy in a designer suit with an entourage. It’s the governor of New Jersey."
New Jersey governor Chris Christie is trying to dodge criticism of his lavish lifestyle by claiming he’s not extremely wealthy and has no lobbyists in Washington. (photo: AP)
11 February 15
stretch limo pulls up to the Marriott in West Des Moines. Out pops a short, chubby guy in a designer suit with an entourage. It’s the governor of New Jersey. He wants to be president of the United States, but he also wants you to believe he is an average Joe who understands your problems. More on that later.
Don’t count him out like I did. The hardcore Tea Party Republicans may not have forgiven him for his post-Hurricane Sandy embrace of Obama, but all seemed forgotten in a room of establishment Republicans who came to hear the New Jersey governor speak at a fundraiser for the Dallas County Republican Party in Des Moines, Iowa.
Let’s rewind to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Governor Christie’s praise for the president’s response to the storm, in the last days of the presidential race, drew criticism from many Republicans, including the cadre at Fox News. Rightly or wrongly, many in the party believed that it influenced the outcome of the election.
As I spoke with many Iowa Republicans after Mr. Christie spoke in Des Moines Monday night, that all seemed forgotten. The co-chair of the Dallas County Republican Central Committee, John C. Strathman, went as far as saying that Mr. Christie would be a “top tier candidate” in Iowa if he decides to run for president.
“Governor Christie is very direct when dealing with problems … honesty and directness will play in Iowa,” Strathman said. “Iowans like candidates who tell us how it is and don’t try to mislead us by dodging the issues. Honesty and directness are good out here.”
“Governor Christie tonight worked his way up in my interest. I thought he did very well here tonight. Did very well with Iowans,” concluded Strathman.
Christie agreed that Iowans themselves are pretty direct and blunt. He talked about meeting Occupy West Des Moines when he was campaigning for Mitt Romney, and said it was an “entertaining night.” Far from being apologetic, Christie said that what the country needs is a “blunt, direct conversation on issues that we have avoided to not hurt people’s feelings. It’s time to tell the truth and fix the problems that need to be fixed.”
During Christie’s speech, I could hear a couple of local TV reporters whispering about how they felt the governor would do well in Iowa. They were responding to his connecting on a personal level with the crowd. Christie said when his mother was on her death bed, she asked him what time it was. When he responded that it was 9:30 a.m. on Friday morning, she told him to get back to work. According to Christie, nothing was left unsaid between them. He talked about what it was like to have an Irish father and a Sicilian mother, and how it taught him to be a mediator early in life. I too got the sense that he connected with this audience.
One interesting trend I am seeing is that the GOP candidates are talking about inequality. When it comes to the bottom line, they have the same failed conservative prescription for dealing with income inequality, but the fact that they are addressing it in their stump speeches indicates that their internal polling must be showing it to be an important issue to the voters. Christie said that while the wealthy have nothing to apologize for and we shouldn’t demonize them, we shouldn’t be protecting them either, since they are doing pretty well. The governor talked about how the middle class is falling behind. He said that was the president’s fault for growing government instead of growing the economy. He said the key was creating private sector jobs, not more government bureaucracy. I didn’t hear a solution, and I didn’t hear any mention of poverty in the United States.
I was surprised to hear that although Mr. Stretch Limo Christie doesn’t consider himself extremely wealthy, he does admit his family is doing well. I wonder how a sitting governor can act like he has no power in Washington. He may not personally employ a lobbyist, but I’m sure as governor he employs many. Watching Chris Christie try to paint himself as just another average guy rings hollow with me. As the night ended, he stood in front of his limo telling reporters that he will be back. If he were the Common Man, he could have at least used a town car.
Christie also talked about our young people being burdened by student debt, and blamed the out-of-control public university tuition costs. He offered no solution. I was disappointed. I thought he was going to one-up Jeb Bush, who suggested as part of his solution that students drive an Uber car. Oh well, I guess two free years of community college won’t help.
Like Governor Scott Walker, Chris Christie has many issues that will encourage liberals and progressives to demonize him but will make him a hero with conservatives.
Part of the theme of Christie’s campaign is that he was appointed by President George W. Bush to be a U.S. attorney on September 10th, 2001. His wife worked three blocks from the World Trade Center, his brother on Wall Street. Christie vowed to fight the “war on terror” and take the fight to the Islamo-fascists.
Christie said that if he were president, the Keystone Pipeline would have already been built, and that the president was pandering to radical environmentalists on the left.
We all know what he means when he talks about attacking entitlements.
None of the wealthy West Des Moines Republicans I spoke with thought Christie was too moderate for Iowa. Only time will tell. I’m thinking that more of the evangelical or Tea Party types will find him too moderate, but in a field this crowded he might not need them to win.
I’ll be seeing the vice president on Thursday and Marco Rubio on Friday. Bernie Sanders is coming soon, too. It’s about time a Democrat shows up – I was beginning to wonder if MoveOn was the only political group left of center in Des Moines.
Scott Galindez co-founded Truthout and will be reporting on the presidential election from Iowa throughout 2015.
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