Recipe for GOP: Be Like Chris Christie?
When it comes to giving advice for a would-be Republican congressional majority, Ricochet member etoiledunord brought up a familiar name around here: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. But what does emulating Christie mean? Daniel Foster gives us a peek: "in an extraordinary move," he writes at NR, Christie
declared a fiscal state of emergency, announcing that by executive order he would impound $2.2 billion in appropriations from a fiscal year that was already seven months gone. That figure represented virtually every dollar the state was not legally obligated to pay out for the remainder of the year. In Bagger’s words, it was “everything that wasn’t nailed down.”
“By doing that so quickly and so dramatically, and by executive action, it really set the stage,” Bagger says. “It was just a very clear declaration that there’s a new reality.”
There was much wailing and teeth-gnashing about the cuts among Democrats. Sweeney accused Christie of “pick[ing] someone else’s pocket,” and senate majority leader Barbara Buono went so far as to say the executive order had “declare[d] martial law” in New Jersey.
This raised the stakes significantly for the FY 2011 budget battle, which was then only beginning. In the year to come, the state would face an $11 billion deficit that made the previous shortfall look like a gratuity. It was a big hole, and Christie needed Democratic votes to close it.
The suspense! Click to read the whole thing, but also consider: is this kind of approach possible right now at the national level? Or...are state budgets too unlike federal budgets? Is the system too hard to crack? And what about this critique from Ross?
Having a credible message on fiscal discipline is a necessary part of any Republican resurgence. But it won’t be sufficient unless it’s married to a credible message that addresses mobility and opportunity as well. In the long run, a G.O.P. that has nothing to say about middle and working class insecurity (that, indeed, often seems to deny that America has any difficulties with socioeconomic opportunity at all) won’t be able to rebuild a lasting majority — and, indeed, won’t deserve to have one.
- Comment (11)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
Comments :
Jul '10
Re: Recipe for GOP: Be Like Chris Christie?
Again Ross missed the point. How much does he get paid? (Too much.)
People in Jersey love Chris Christie. Except the teacher's unions.
They know that fiscal sanity and lower taxes makes middle and working class (how are those different?) a bit more mobile and creates opportunity.
Regarding mobility, perhaps Ross should take a look at this map. There's a lot of mobility in Jersey...away from it.
Jun '10
Re: Recipe for GOP: Be Like Chris Christie?
People need to understand, if budget cuts aren't deep enough to make people's jaws drop, they're not deep enough. When you look at Governor Christie, deprivation is not the first thing that comes to mind, but in order to stabilize the budget of the States and the Nation, the public sector has to experience some serious deprivation. They have to join the penny-pinchers club.
Re: Recipe for GOP: Be Like Chris Christie?
Michael Tee: Again Ross missed the point. How much does he get paid? (Too much.)
People in Jersey love Chris Christie. Except the teacher's unions.
They know that fiscal sanity and lower taxes makes middle and working class (how are those different?) a bit more mobile and creates opportunity.
Regarding mobility, perhaps Ross should take a look at this map. There's a lot of mobility in Jersey...away from it. · Aug 4 at 7:39am
I should be clear, Michael, that Ross's quote above isn't a direct critique of Christie, but of a general Republican strategy that chose to deliver on fiscal responsibility without speaking powerfully enough to the deeper jobs problem. Sorry if I swept that under the rug. I want to know if state budget crises are different from our federal budget problems insofar as their consequences are so severe that state politicians aren't under anywhere near as much pressure as national politicians to address the middle class/jobs issue Ross underscores.
May '10
Re: Recipe for GOP: Be Like Chris Christie?
I think very little about that criticism from Ross Douthat. One very good way to address economic insecurity is to make sure there is a bounty of economic options by which we who are not making six figures writing a couple time a week for the New York Times can build a sense of security.
Job loss isn't such a threat when there are plenty of jobs available. We are all more willing to take risks if we know that we can rebuild quickly if the risk doesn't pan out. As long as the Federal Government is there crowding out our options, providing a ragged "safety net" that provides no real safety, and punishing any successful socioeconomic upward move, there will be great insecurity.
Re: Recipe for GOP: Be Like Chris Christie?
Ross has a point. I think it's fair to say that there's a real problem right now with middle class and working class insecurity -- problems that were papered over during the past decade of real estate asset inflation. A lot of people felt richer than they were because their houses were worth so much.
The trouble is, we're not growing fast enough, and we're not creating opportunities big enough for the great middle. That's something the the Republican party really should address -- it's really a summation of the things they stand for (or should) anyway: a better and more rigorous education; a renewed emphasis on entrepreneurial capitalism; a flat tax that's simple and low; and a bias, in everything, towards more choice and more responsibility for the citizen.
The insecurity people feel, I think, is because they realize the economy is changing, but that they're stuck in one place. What the Republicans should be selling isn't (just) a vision of what's worked in the past, but of how we're going to address the future where everyone, really, will be much closer to a Corporation of One.
Jun '10
Re: Recipe for GOP: Be Like Chris Christie?
I believe the Christie approach is possible at the national level. As Foster points out in his excellent article, Christie governs like a man who has no worries about the next election. I continue to be astounded by Christie. Never has a NJ politician been so fearless and so true to his word. The NJ state budget is incredibly complicated and the patchwork fixes Christie faced are being stripped away one by one. It's a notoriously corrupt state, and one with 600 school districts, each operating as fiefdoms, and an incredibly complex network of commissions and patronage appointments that would make anyone's head spin. If Christie has made inroads in such a short time at New Jersey's helm, it's quite possible that a Paul Ryan type could methodically dismantle much of the federal mess.
May '10
Re: Recipe for GOP: Be Like Chris Christie?
I love Chris Christie, because we all love those who are willing to stand up and speak unspeakable truths- and, not coincidentally, blacken the eyes of villains who richly deserve it. Think Rummy doing press conferences in 2002 and 2003.
But sometimes we get into the fad of admiring bluntness to the extent that we forget that governing is also getting stuff done over the long haul, not short term political theater. I think we need to "be like Chris Christie" in substance, but not necessarily in style.
In my own state, the left hates Tim Pawlenty because he beat them almost every time despite being hamstrung by a bad legislature most of the time. If you have a steel spine and are blunt in private, be firm yet nice in front of cameras, repeating, over and over, the unarguable truths (as Christie has).
Mr. Douthat repeats the thesis of David Frum's 2008 book. The issue that Republicans ignore in tone when we focus only on spending cuts is that too many of the middle class economic gains over the last decade have been swallowed up by rising health care costs; there's also an employment opportunities problem.
Jul '10
Re: Recipe for GOP: Be Like Chris Christie?
Rob Long:
The insecurity people feel, I think, is because they realize the economy is changing, but that they're stuck in one place.
If people are insecure (whoa-what a cultural change that would be...excuse me while I adjust my skirt) it is that the country and history are moving in unwanted directions and there's nothing they can do about it.
The government has no place to make people feel better. That's their job.
The GOP will say "See...we can make you feel better!" and most people will think Prohibition wouldn't just be revoked, but mandatory.
For what it's worth, on this site was a debunking of the mobility myth. Perhaps Ross needs to see some sun and exercise. His picture indicates as much.
Jul '10
Re: Recipe for GOP: Be Like Chris Christie?
Duh, drinking would be mandatory.
Jul '10
Re: Recipe for GOP: Be Like Chris Christie?
Christie is majestic in his impact. But that impact is proportionate to his uniqueness. A nation full of Christie wannabes would be obnoxious to the populace.
Christie is a trailblazer. He is changing the terms of debate. We need additional debate changers less than we need candidates and elected officials who can institutionalize the consequencesof those changes. What made Reagan unique was that he was able to act as the game-changer and the institutionalizer.
May '10
Re: Recipe for GOP: Be Like Chris Christie?
What the public understands, and the politicians have forgotten, is that to lead this nation is to be a Public Servant. The politicians see it as the new, easy path to wealth and power. The epitome is Bill Clinton who started with nothing, and was never paid very much, but left the White House wealthy. How did that happen? The public understands.
Christie is successful, so far, because he understands that and he is acting in the best interests of the people he serves. It isn't that he is bombastic -- that works for him but it wouldn't work for some others. It isn't just that he has backbone -- that is a necessary but not sufficient quality. It is that he understands that he has a job to do and is responsible to all the people of NJ to do it. Not just to certain special interest groups.