After the last Presidential election I was looking at a post made by the charming and lovable Bill Murgan. On this particular Facebook post his right wing sister was ranting on about how with Obama being re-elected meant the end of Western Civilization or some such thing, and I posted after her. I told her not to fret. Things will swing the other way again (in the very small area of moderate). I told her "The Repubs will talk Chris Christie into getting a gastric by-pass, he'll be slim and trim by election 2016, and he'll beat Hillary Clinton by a nose." This is a prediction I had been throwing around quite a bit amongst my friends, and any of the very angry people all around me at work who would listen. Bill's sister replied something to the effect of "You don't have to be snide" (that's a paraphrase), and I assured her I wasn't trying to be funny. I told her I was dead serious.
The other morning when it was announced that Chris Christie had gotten stomach weight loss surgery, my wife woke me up in disbelief. She said it was creepy how it was happening like I said it would. I spoke to Bill that day, and he remembered my prediction too. I even reminded Bill's sister and all she could say was that she only hoped the rest of my prediction would come true.
I saw this one coming from a million miles away. The Party knew they had a potential winner on their hands, but they knew a fat guy will not get elected in this Entertainment-Tonight-shallow-glamor-glitz world we live in. Now understand, even though this prediction is beginning to play out, there are a zillion (well maybe not a zillion, but many) variables that could arise to change the whole election landscape. The Dems might not run Hillary. Another Dem could dynamically charge out of the wilderness ala Barrack Obama. The right wing extremists of the Republican Party might put on enough pressure to push Jeb Bush into the spotlight. (Gosh I hope not.) But if the rest of my prediction does play out, I can live with Chris Christie. He is a moderate Republican and he can be reasonable and open to compromise. I would never vote for him, but I could easily see a slim President Christie winning over a majority of the American Public.
As for the Politics part of this post, let's talk about the President's stance on gun legislation. Most right wingers will not understand the rest of this post so you may as well go catch the next episode of "Duck Dynasty".
The President is pro Second Amendment. He is. But he has to react. He represents everybody, and that includes shooting victims. As I predicted, this too is all smoke and mirrors. So far, assault weapons are off the table, large clips are off the table, and about the only thing left is more extensive background checks. I will never understand how after the Newtown shootings when the President said that we should more vigorously enforce existing laws and have better background checks, the right started crying "He wants to take our guns!" But what he is saying now is much more clever than that. This is where it gets tricky. The President (and the First Lady) keep saying "This deserves a vote." "Contact your Congressmen and let them know this deserves a vote." But the deal is, President Obama knows that it will never pass a vote. He knows it. But for him, it's win-win. He showed the anti-gun people he wanted a vote, and then can blame the Repubs when it fails. This is politics at it's finest. These subtle nuances are a thing of beauty and a wonder to behold.
And in the end nothing will change, and politics roll along as usual.
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