President's precedence

[ photo via Steven Portnoy on twitter]

Lot of chatter on the internets this afternoon about Chris Christie ditching Miserable Mitt and singing the praises of President Obama. The general consensus goes along the lines of Mistermix's view that Christie is playing for 2016.

There's a small contingent of reluctant admirers ranging from John Cole's near kudos to Atrios who sees Christie as wanting to rise to the occassion and do his job.

Me, I'm somewhere betwixt the three of them. I don't doubt Christie calculates the political ramifications of any act and fine tunes his schtick with an eye on 2016. And like John, I've had a few moments when I've felt some genuine admiration for Christie's refusal to pander to the crazies and flat out take a firm and unpopular position. But I'm generally turned off by his big mouth bully boy style.

I'm with Atrios on the notion that for all the shady dealing Christie does to advance his own ambition and the fortunes of his own benefactors, in this situation I believe he's driven more by wanting to get the job done than by politics. On a practical level embracing Obama and the feds serves his needs the most in bringing relief to the victims of the storm. Of which he has millions. So why would he snub Obama who's bringing in FEMA in favor of Romney arriving with a rented truck full of canned soup and baby diapers?

Not saying Christie didn't weigh the political advantages at all, but really think this time it was secondary to doing what was best to solve the immediate problems.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]