By Michael Aron
Chief Political Correspondent
This is the bus Chris Christie’s been using. Over the weekend, he had his family with him. Last night he did a town hall carried live by C-SPAN.
For nearly two hours Christie tried to sell himself to this crowd as a tough straight-talker who has made executive decisions for all of his public life and is studied on the issues:
“If a center for the developmentally disabled in San Bernardino, California can be a target for a terrorist attack, that means that everywhere in America is a target for a terrorist attack. It’s a different world, everybody. It’s not just Al Qaeda anymore. Al Qaeda wanted to do the big things; the USS Cole, American Embassies, the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, the Capitol building. They wanted to do big things. ISIS has said all they want is what they call the sweet taste of American blood. We’re dealing with a different opponent now and we have to act differently. We need someone who knows what they’re doing. And that’s exactly who I am and what I’ll be if you give me the chance to be President of the United States.”
He was also the showman Chris Christie, as in this part of his answer to a question about the tuition bill that is un-affordable and opaque:
“We need to give you a chance to unbundle that bill. You pick what you pay for. Here are the things that your child is going to use, thinks I’m not, I’m not paying for. It’s the only way to put a market test on this. So if 98 percent of the people say we’re not paying for the rock climbing wall — and by the way, you all have a rock-climbing wall at UNH. Are you kidding me? You have rocks. You’re the Granite State! C’mon, man, help me out.”
To a man worried about the federal debt, Christie promised to cut government spending, even if it’s one of the questioner’s favorite programs:
“There are going to be programs I’m going to cut that you’re going to like, and if you come out of here tonight and you say you’re going to vote for me and I become president and I cut a program you like and you’re going to write a letter to me, or send an email or something, and say I can’t believe it, you bum, I voted for you in the New Hampshire primary and sent you on a rocket ship to the Presidency of the United States. You get there and cut my, fill0-in-the-blank program, which means so much to me and my family. You’re terrible. I’m telling you I’ve already got the form letter figured out that I’m going to send back to you. Dear fill-in-the-blank, I told you I was going to do it. Very truly yours, Chris Christie, President of the United States.”
He reminded the audience of how he’s won two elections in a heavily blue state:
“In the end, if you walk away from today with nothing else, just remember this: I know how to win.”
Since last night’s town hall, Christie has appeared on four cable news programs. He’s hot right now.