With the high-profile media endorsement of MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, the trap is now complete. The question is whether or not New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will fall into it.
Of course the media’s happy with Christie. Just as it looked as though Romney was surging in the closing days of the campaign, one of our rock stars, the man who gave the keynote address at the GOP convention, effusively embraced and praised President Obama’s handling of Hurricane Sandy. No president desperate for a second term could’ve dreamt up a better photo-op or ally in the closing days of the election.
Anyone who doubts this boosted Obama’s reelection chances need only look at the gratitude the media’s pouring on Christie. The media loves to reward this kind of behavior in the hopes it will encourage other Republicans to do the same.
And you know it has to make Christie feel good. You can ask Senator John McCain all about that. But you can’t ask President John McCain because, well, with the carrot comes the stick.
The media likes Republicans who are no longer a threat, but they french kiss those who do them a political solid, like give their precious Obama a boost right at the electoral finish line. But there’s something more sinister at work when we’re talking about a McCain or a Christie — a game of three-level chess.
The media knows Christie has presidential aspirations, so part of what they’re doing is setting him up — lulling him into a false sense of security so they can repeatedly blindside him and catch him off guard when he becomes a presidential candidate and a threat to Democrats.
And if Christie doesn’t understand this, he will never be president.