newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ALAN STEINBERG

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

In early 2005, the various major players in the New Jersey Republican Party wanted the then U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Chris Christie to run for governor. He declined to run, because he felt he was not yet ready and still had a number of major agenda items to accomplish as U.S. Attorney.

Christie’s decision not to run for governor in 2005 was not the end of the political line for him, but indeed the beginning of the road that would lead to his election as governor in 2009. During the remainder of his tenure as U.S. Attorney, from 2005 through 2008, Christie continued to compile the record that would distinguish himself not only as the best U.S. Attorney in the history of New Jersey but also the most outstanding U.S. Attorney in the nation over the past three decades. This record would earn him the GOP gubernatorial nomination and his election as governor in 2009.

Now fast forward to 2011.

Since his inauguration as governor in January, 2010, Chris Christie has been the model governor for the nation in implementing the budgetary reductions and employee benefit reforms necessary to save states from bankruptcy in this era. As in 2005, GOP leaders are now clamoring for him to seek higher office. Unlike 2005, however, these party leaders are not just from New Jersey or the Northeast but indeed from states in all regions of the nation. The office they want him to seek is that of President of the United States.

As in 2005, Christie has again declined to seek higher office. The reasons are virtually the same – he feels he is not yet ready and he has significant goals he fervently wishes to attain as New Jersey Governor, most notably in the area of education reform.

And as in 2005, Chris Christie is not at the end of the political line but indeed at the beginning of a political road that may very well lead to his election as President of the United States in either 2016 or 2020.

The first stop on Chris Christie’s road to the White House will be at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida in August, 2012. I believe Chris Christie will become the keynote speaker and star of the 2012 convention, in the same fashion as Jack Kennedy in 1956 (he gave the nominating speech for Adlai Stevenson), Ronald Reagan in 1976 (his unity speech for Jerry Ford after his defeat stole the show), and Barack Obama as keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Mitt Romney will be the GOP presidential nominee and pick Marco Rubio as his Vice Presidential running mate.

If Barack Obama is reelected as President of the United States in 2012, Chris Christie will become the undisputed frontrunner for the 2016 GOP Presidential nomination the day after the 2012 election. He will face Democrat presidential nominee Andrew Cuomo in the 2016 general election.

If, as I expect, Romney trounces Obama in the 2012 election, the President-elect will almost certainly ask Christie to join his administration as Attorney General of the United States. Eric Holder has been an unmitigated disaster as Obama administration Attorney General, and one of Romney’s major priorities will be to both clean up the mess at the Justice Department and prosecute the wrongdoers in the various Obama administration scandals that are now burgeoning every day.

There is nobody in America who would be better suited for the role of Attorney General of the United States under these circumstances than Chris Christie. The question is whether he would accept the appointment.

Chris Christie is a man of bedrock integrity. When he says that he intends to at least finish his entire term as New Jersey governor in January, 2014 rather than take a position with the new Republican presidential administration in January, 2013, I believe him.

Still, when the new President of the United States says to Chris Christie “I need your help, and therefore, I am asking you to become my Attorney General”, it will be almost impossible for him to say no. Accepting the position may well become a matter of patriotic duty for Chris Christie under these circumstances.

If Chris Christie accepts Romney’s appointment, he will become the greatest Attorney General of the United States since Robert F. Kennedy. He also will have a platform of visibility second only to that of President Romney. This platform would have more visibility than that of even a Vice President Rubio. Christie would become the frontrunner for the 2020 GOP presidential nomination. He would likewise have Andrew Cuomo as his 2020 Democratic opponent in the White House race.