A Super Big Deal for a Few Minutes in American Politics — then Predictably Completely Forgotten — for Example Governor Chris Christie’s Allegedly Politically Directed Bridge Slow Down Payback to Fort Lee, New Jersey’s Mayor — and a Comment on Leadership

© 2014 Peter Free

 

09 January 2014

 

 

Themes

 

Two:

 

(1) American media lack a sense of proportion

 

(2) Leadership has to be able to extort a pound of flesh, if it wants to be effective

 

 

Have to laugh at the U.S. media — usually lacking the slightest sense of proportion

 

Chris Christie, New Jersey’s governor — and everyone’s seemingly favorite Republican “fat guy” — is taking it (predictably briefly) on the chin this week.  All this over his Office’s demonstrated involvement in closing bridge lanes that backwashed large amounts of traffic into Fort Lee, New Jersey for four September days last year.

 

The lanes closure was explicit political payback for the town’s Democratic mayor’s refusal to support Governor Christie’s reelection:

 

 

Gov. Chris Christie repeatedly apologized to the people of New Jersey on Thursday, saying he was “embarrassed and humiliated” by revelations that a top aide and appointees ordered the closing of lanes to the George Washington Bridge to deliberately snarl traffic as an act of political vengeance.

 

In a somber and humbling news conference in Trenton, Mr. Christie said he was “blindsided” when he learned of a series of emails that showed intimate involvement by close associates to punish a Democratic mayor who had declined to endorse the governor for his re-election.

 

Mr. Christie’s comments came after weeks of steadfast denials by the governor that his administration was involved.

 

“I am a very sad person today,” he said.

 

Just as the news conference began, the United States attorney’s office confirmed that it would open a preliminary inquiry into what led to four days of gridlock in Fort Lee, N.J., in September.

 

© 2014 Marc Santora and William K. Rashbaum, Christie Fires Aide in Bridge Scandal as U.S. Opens Inquiry, New York Times (09 January 2014)

 

The frenetic way the national media is covering this story, you would think that America’s survival was at stake.  And if not that, then there has been an explosive surge in “let’s stick it to mouthy big guy” impulsivity:

 

 

The U.S. Attorney for New Jersey has announced that his office is reviewing the facts surrounding the decision of Gov. Chris Christie’s aides and associates to close lanes leading from Fort Lee to the George Washington Bridge, in an effort to "determine whether a federal law was implicated."

 

News reports have said that during the four-day lane shut down, emergency personnel were slowed trying to reach people in medical need, school buses with children were held up, and other delays ensued.

 

© 2014 Jason Grant, U.S. Attorney reviewing Chris Christie bridge scandal for potential violation, NJ.com (09 January 2014)

 

Of course, the feds are not acting on anything that really matters, proportionately speaking — like (say) the financial sector criminality that did America in a few years back — but they are going to examine going after the Governor.

 

Just ‘cause he’s a Republican and their Washington boss, Attorney General Eric Holder, is not.

 

 

This is supposedly big, big news

 

Emergency personnel were slowed down and school buses had to wait.  And the Governor, God forbid, allegedly acted like an old time East Coast politician.

 

 

But come on . . .

 

The emergency vehicle delay times that I saw calculated on yesterday’s television news (and remember I’m an ex-cop) were relatively trivial.  Meaning 3 to 4 minutes or a doubling of the normal times.

 

I don’t want to seem heartless, but a few minutes delay is nothing, insofar as police and ambulance responses go on a national and incident scale.

 

In some of the places that I have lived, not too far from emergency services, you would be lucky if an ambulance got to you within 30 minutes.  And forget the Sheriff’s ability to respond, at least before you were mauled to death, for example, by a pack of intruding and homicidal bears or their human analogs.

 

Most people on this planet recognize that if bad things happen, they are going to be their own for a while.  Sometimes, a long while.

 

This Chris Christie story only stands out because he apparently got caught acting like a vindictive jerk.

 

 

Consider this

 

If President Obama had the butt-chomping nature that Governor Christie allegedly has, something might actually get done in the nation’s capital.  There is nothing like enforceable payback to get self-serving politicians’ survival attention.

 

 

So who is this uproar going to hurt?

 

Realistically, probably not the Governor.  Not in the long run.  Most people will forget.  And those of us who are sick of the poll-driven, cowardly narcissists in Washington might appreciate a head-slamming leader for a change.

 

A little muck is all part of the interpersonal game.  Any Top Dog who doesn’t know how to successfully threaten people is not worth a wet cow chip.

 

 

The moral? — Get real, pansy whiners

 

I wouldn’t have done what the Governor’s Office did in this case because too many folks were greatly inconvenienced.  But, on the other hand, I am a firm believer in making my adversaries pay, when they jump on me.

 

If you cannot extract a pound of flesh as a leader, you cannot be effective.  And that’s just the way it is, living in our clan of not-so-evolved apes.