Congratulations belong to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who cruised to re-election Tuesday.
As The Business Insider website reports, the governor has just “basically” launched his 2016 campaign for president of the United States.
http://www.businessinsider.com/chris-christie-2016-campaign-begins-election-results-new-jersey-2013-11
Which brings me to the point here: He has lost a good bit of weight and says he is about halfway to his weight-loss goal. My question is this: Why not tell us the complete reason for losing the weight, governor?
Christie underwent weight-loss surgery several months ago. He proclaimed then it was to ensure he sticks around for his family. He doesn’t want to die early because of conditions associated with being significantly overweight. I accept that stated reason. But my sense is that he has more “political” reasons stashed away that he’s not telling us.
Allow me this bit of candor. I believe he is losing the weight because he wants to present a more physically appealing image to Americans across the land if he chooses to run for president in 2016.
What’s more, I see nothing wrong with him saying so. What can be so damning for a politician who prides himself on blunt talk and being frank with constituents to actually tell us the whole truth about such matters? Didn’t he once tell a New Jersey woman he didn’t care what she thought when she criticized him for sending his children to private school? Voters forgot about that snarky remark, as seen by the resounding victory this self-proclaimed “conservative Republican” scored in a heavily Democratic state.
Perhaps the governor could tell us what many of us know already: The Media Age requires national politicians to present pleasant images to voters. Such wasn’t the case prior to TV. Imagine someone who looked like, say, Abraham Lincoln being elected today. How about William Howard Taft, the heaviest president in history at 320 pounds?
If the New Jersey governor is entertaining thoughts of a presidential campaign in 2016, he has taken the first step — admittedly a cosmetic one — on that long road.
What’s wrong with acknowledging it?