Snowblind

Noted reckless driver Chris Christie, who recently replaced Joe Piscopo as the official state embarrassment, is finally on the receiving end of mainstream media criticism from people not named Ed Schultz. As you all know by now, Christie was on vacation in Disney World in Florida when the Christmas weekend blizzard hit New Jersey, and he didn't see fit to return home as quickly as possible to fulfill his constitutional role as governor and take charge of a major emergency. Rumor has it that he couldn't leave because he had trouble wedging himself out of his seat in the teacup ride.

On December 22, when the forecast for the coming weekend suggested light snow showers, Christie - unaware that forecasts are subject to change - informed New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney that he and Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno would be out of the state for the holiday and that he, Sweeney, would thus serve as acting governor. Neither Christie nor Sweeney likely expected anything to happen, but with the possibility of a blizzard very much in the air, so to speak - forecasters couldn't rule it out - it didn't look good for both the governor and the lieutenant governor to make tracks for warmer climates. (While Christie was at Disney World, Guadagno went to Mexico.) Ironically, the recent creation of the office of lieutenant governor was meant to lessen the the need for the Senate president to be acting governor.

Sweeney performed admirably during the emergency - more so than New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who seemed to be tone deaf to cries about unplowed streets in the city's outer boroughs - and garnered a lot of good press for his efforts. When Christie returned to New Jersey, he was lambasted, and rightly so, for putting personal interest over state concerns. Kim Guadagno had to go to see Mexico to be with her ailing father, who most likely won't live much longer, so it only made sense for Christie to cancel his family's trip to Disney World rather than leave the state to deal with a major winter storm on its own. But Christie was adamant, insisting that he promised his kids a trip to Disney World and saying that his family comes first.

So why is he the governor of New Jersey?

Can you imagine the idea of President Christie? ("I promised my kids a trip to Australia, and with Vice President Fiorina also out of the country, I was certain Speaker Bachmann could handle the blackout riots in Phoenix. Sending a Blackwater contingent in to restore order was the right thing to do.")

At least Bloomberg was on the ground when the storm hit, and he was contrite about his failures. So while Newark mayor Cory Booker was going all over the city (also underplowed like New York) to help shovel snow and let everyone know about it via Twitter, getting good press like Sweeney, Christie had to face a different kind of storm - a media storm of questions about his sense of priority, his sense of responsibility, and his fitness to govern.

Where were all these reporters when Christie cut taxes on the wealthy? How come no one questioned his fitness for office when he cut spending on various social programs and raised fees and transit fares? How come Steve Kroft didn't point out any of this in his interview with the governor on "60 Minutes" for a story about state and local budget crises?

Christie faced questions about his ineffectiveness this time because the problem - the snowstorm - was so obvious. Most of his crimes against New Jersey have to be explained with statistics and charts - you know, boring stuff - and so the media have given him a pass. So if you think this is the start of a more serious look at the governor of New Jersey, think again.

Christie, for his part, deflected blame for the handling of the snow local governments. He also said the media made a big deal out of it because they had nothing else to talk about during a slow news week. If the media only saw what he gets away with in other weeks, they'd have far more damning news to report than this.