By David Cruz
Correspondent
Gov. Chris Christie is just looking for love. The man who says he has everything has been on something of a good news crusade of late, hyping hope during Atlantic City’s dark days yesterday, and, today, trumpeting the Camden miracle at an elementary school in the city, where the kids welcomed him with a bipartisan friendliness. Camden is the latest local district to come under state control and, in general, the state has been welcomed.
“I want to congratulate this community and I’m coming here because I want to acknowledge for them and the rest of the state, what extraordinary hard work has happened here over the last year and how cooperative that work has been,” he told an audience of educators and political leaders from the city.
But, further north, in Newark, the state’s role in the schools has been unwelcome. The governor said kids in Newark who skipped class to demonstrate against him had no valid reason to be out there.
“They have no basis for their actions; that’s exactly what I’m saying,” said Christie. “I’m saying that they’re being induced by selfish adults who want to put their own political agenda first.”
The gov’s Q&A with first-graders went very well. He handled some of their toughest questions, like “what’s your favorite color?” with ease. (Answer: blue.)
But for the press, he showed no such patience, at times snapping at reporters and at other times answering their questions with sarcasm. Answering a question about whether his national ambitions have somehow led to his taking Republicans in the state for granted, Christie showed more impatience.
“The peanut gallery is an interesting place to sit,” he said. “Those of us who are in the arena know what it’s all about and the peanut gallery folks have lots of fun and have a lot to say but they’re in the peanut gallery because they don’t have the guts to get in the arena.”
The governor’s public appearances, especially in urban centers like Camden, are intended to show whatever audience may be watching, that Christie has crossover appeal like no other Republican, and with the collaboration of mayors like Camden’s Dana Redd, he’s finding, if not exactly all the love he wants, certainly all the love he needs.