With the government shutdown providing one more piece of evidence that Senators can’t be trusted with the White House, my guess is that Chris Christie may look more appealing when the dust clears. That’s what my latest column for The Week is about.
But it’s about more than just Christie. It’s also about how the shutdown is really a result of other societal trends — trends that might necessitate someone like Christie to reverse (or, at least, rein-in.) Here’s an excerpt which explains why Christie may be better-suited to this challenge than Sen. Marco Rubio:
“I once thought Marco Rubio was the man to beat. He would be the conservative version of Obama — an eloquent orator with a moving biography who could persuade and inspire the public to embrace conservative policy solutions.
“More and more, however, I’m beginning to believe that, as important as that is, it’s not the most critical thing voters will be looking for. They aren’t going to be looking for a visionary speaker, but instead, for a strong leader. To put it in paternalistic terms, they will want a daddy figure to make it all better. This person, stylistically, will be the anti-Obama — a decisive leader. And who is more stylistically anti-Obama than Christie?
“The most pressing crisis threatening America isn’t political liberalism, so much as it is the atomization of our society. The center will not hold.”
Meanwhile, over at TheRun2016, David Catanese pokes a few holes in my theory. (You decide.)