The residents of Fort Lee, NJ aren’t the only ones in a jam after the apparently politically motivated closure of their town’s bridge. The ensuing bickering, dubbed “Bridgegate” by the media, has created a definite setback in Governor Chris Christie’s contention for the White House in 2016.
Since no documents have yet directly implicated Christie himself in the scandal, it remains to be seen what effect this squabble will have on his political career. Christie initially dismissed queries about the issue, joking that he “was actually the guy working the cones” restricting traffic on the bridge. Contributing to the troubling implications for his political image, he also suggested that the officials leading the inquiry have “nothing better to do.”
At the very least, his statements make him seem like someone who has callous disregard for the residents of Fort Lee, who were stuck in traffic for hours, and in some cases for no reason other than seemingly political vengeance. Indeed, because of a lack of advanced warning on the dubious “traffic study,” emergency vehicles were also stuck on the bridge, posing a very real threat to human safety.
This perception is not the kind of image a potential contender for the presidency would want, especially in the wake of the last election cycle in which Mitt Romney, with his $10,000 bet and political gaffe about representing only 47 percent of Americans, was criticized as being out of touch with common Americans. Christie’s defensive remarks darken the GOP’s overall image.
To be fair, Christie’s indignant rebuttals may very well be because he did not orchestrate the bridge debacle and is, in fact, innocent. It is only human nature to react defensively when charged with a crime you did not commit. Even if this is the case, the fact that Christie did not know about his senior aides’ malicious form of political retaliation shows he does not know what is going on in his own staff, which liberal critics will surely label incompetence.
This debacle also raises the question of how senior aides working for a man as politically savvy as Christie—who in the last election was even a hit with Democrats—could possibly consider such a move with plenty of risk and no political reward. The only rationale seems to be petty retribution against a relatively politically insignificant mayor. Could the Governor have created a type of office culture that permits, or even fosters, this kind of bullying behavior?
Some may rightly point out that prominent Democratic figures have overcome scandal on their path to the Oval Office. (Monica Lewinsky, anyone?) But Christie’s situation is markedly different in that he is still early in his road to the White House. Given his resounding victory in New Jersey, many Independents (and perhaps Democrats as well, given his popularity with New Jersey Democratic voters) are still making up their minds about him. Many of the Governor’s accomplishments have been discussed as results of innovative, in-your-face, and no-nonsense politics. This new dilemma has the potential to rebrand his image into that of a bully, casting a cloud over his achievements and souring his relationships with non-GOP voters.
If Christie can avoid being labeled a vindictive political agent, he very well has the ability to weather this scandal and continue his political ambitions. However, the odds may not be in his favor. Americans crave scandalous news, but often pay less attention to the more mundane details of the bureaucratic political chain of command or who precisely did what. Many Independents or moderate Democrats may revise their positive opinion of Christie and fail to educate themselves if or when he may emerge as innocent.
Only time will tell what the precise political fallout of Bridgegate will be for Gov. Christie. He has shown great innovation and versatility in his successful bid for governor, and if selected as the 2016 Republican nominee, his taking office could signal a return to power for moderates in the Republican Party. Part of his political fate no longer lies with how he spins the scandal but rather with what image the voters construct of him after new national scrutiny. In a nation already deeply cynical toward Congress and generally suspicious of politicians, it may be hard for Christie to gain the green light to continue his political ambitions. He might just get jammed.
