Benjamin Wallace Wells at New York Magazine — and Dana Milbank at the Washington Post — Got Governor Chris Christie for Something that Actually Matters — and It Is Not the Bridge Lane Closures

© 2014 Peter Free

 

13 January 2014

 

 

Citations

 

Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The Narcissistic Drama of Chris Christie’s Apology, New York Magazine (09 January 2014)

 

Dana Milbank, New Jersey narcissist, Washington Post (10 January 2014)

 

 

Did you tune out of the Christ Christie bridge BS last week?

 

Benjamin Wallace-Wells and Dana Milbank didn’t, and they came up with something that actually matters.

 

The setting

 

From the New York Times:

 

 

In a remarkable day of swirling political drama, Gov. Chris Christie tried on Thursday to control the damage from revelations that his administration ordered the revenge-closings of traffic lanes at the George Washington Bridge by firing a top aide, cutting ties with a longtime political adviser and repeatedly apologizing in a nearly two-hour news conference.

 

Sounding somber and appearing contrite, the normally garrulous Mr. Christie said he had no advance knowledge of the lane closings and had been “humiliated” by the entire episode.

 

© 2014 Kate Zernike and Marc Santora, ‘Very Sad’ Chris Christie Extends Apology in Bridge Scandal, New York Times (09 January 2014)

 

 

Of this, Benjamin Wallace-Wells wrote:

 

The governor can make any story, no matter how big, about him.

 

He barely mentioned the people who had actually suffered from the vast traffic jam his giggling aides had unleashed, and downplayed the delays it imposed upon ambulances trying to get to sick people.

 

The drama of the event, as Christie described it, occurred entirely within the confines of the governor's office, and it was about loyalty, friendship, trust.

 

At the press conference he wondered, "What did I do wrong to have these folks think it was okay to lie to me?"

 

© 2014 Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The Narcissistic Drama of Chris Christie’s Apology, New York Magazine (09 January 2014) (extracts)

 

Dana Milbank counted Christie’s narcissism drips:

 

 

Even in disgrace, the New Jersey governor — and the nominal front-runner for the 2016 GOP nomination — managed to turn his nationally televised news conference into a forum on the virtues of his favorite subject: himself.

 

Use of the word “I”: 692 times.

 

I’m: 119.

 

I’ve: 67.

 

Me: 83.

 

My/myself: 134.

 

When Christie delivered the keynote address at the 2012 nomination, the criticism was that he spoke more of himself than of the nominee, Mitt Romney. Now we see that even in adversity, Christie regards himself as the hero.

 

Christie takes worship of self to a whole new level.

 

The excuses flowed as if in their own HOV lane.

 

This certainty of his own infallibility will be more of an impediment to Christie than any lane closures in Fort Lee.

 

© 2014 Dana Milbank, New Jersey narcissist, Washington Post (10 January 2014) (extracts)

 

 

The self-adulation point matters, unlike the rest of the “who did what to whom” Fort Lee bridge lanes back and forth

 

Despite my trivializing slant on the media’s handling of the Fort Lee/George Washington Bridge lane closures, I am not a big Chris Christie fan.  The guy’s affection for himself is too plain, as is his willingness to trash other people for little reason.  That is not how effective leadership works.

 

Democratic Party campaign managers take note.

 

 

The moral? — Body fat does not matter, but a fat head may

 

Governor Christie may have exposed too much of his unappealing psyche during the Fort Lee bridge “scandal”.

 

The man is arguably unfit to lead a nation that should be about more than just the self-admiration of its elected potentate.