All three major networks and every cable news outlet as well as national journals are all clamoring for more, more, more about the man who's come to be known as "America's Governor."
Christie has not only changed the agenda (and the course of events) in New Jersey but he has also taken one of the nation's most hopelessly liberal states and begun to wean it off its tax and spend ways.
While he and his party don't control the state legislature, he asked for a 2.5 cap on spending and, incredibly won a 2% cap and promptly signed it into law.
He has cut state spending, cut the budget, imposed new spending controls, led an assault on runaway pension and benefit costs, enacted needed reforms and has even done what no other Governor dared -- taken on the powerful monolith known as the NJEA -- the state teachers' union.
Plus, he's opened up a live, personal dialogue with the people of his state that's unlike anything any other state has ever seen before. He's real, he's direct, he's engaging and he keeps his word.
And across New Jersey -- and the nation -- Christie has won plaudits for this.
On fighting runaway spending, the Camden Courier Post said: "Our governor has it right."
On Christie's pension and other reforms, The Record of Bergen County said: "We agree!"
On Christie's insistence on facing problems directly and forthrightly, The Asbury Park Press said: "Clearly the fiscal climate has changed in Trenton and . . . . We support most of what the governor is trying to do."
On the Governor's first year in office, the Trenton Times said: “Any observer, no matter what his or her political stripe, would have to agree that the governor's first year in office has been extraordinary.”
On keeping his promises, The Gloucester County Times said: “Christie's vow one year ago to turn New Jersey upside down largely holds up to scrutiny” And The Times asked: “How can anyone disagree with the general course that Gov. Chris Christie laid out for New Jersey's next 12 months?"
On cooperation with the Governor, Tom Moran of the Newark Star Ledger admitted that the governor has been so effective that those who fight him "risk being seen as an obstacle to needed reform.”
But the Philadelphia Inquirer?
Well, that seems to be another story.
On the first anniversary of the governor's inauguration, the Inquirer is out today with two front page reviews. The first suggests that Christie has been all rhetoric (there goes that word again) and no action. And the second story reminds Christie that he can no longer "pose" as an outsider because he's an insider now and must stop throwing brickbats and start delivering.
Clever, huh?
Two points: 1) The governor never pretended to be an insider nor an outsider. All along, he has cast himself as a fiscal conservative and independent-minded reformer who's bound and determined to stay close to the people. He'll work from the inside (with transparency) or the outside -- whatever it takes to get the job done. He's smart, practical and tenacious. 2) The governor's accomplishments (as already enumerated and recognized by the media cited above) speak for themselves.
Where the hell has the Inquirer been for the past year?
Is it any wonder that the relentlessly liberal Inquirer continues to lose readers?
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