A Different Kind of Republican Cat

When the smoke cleared –

When the fog lifted off 50 or so million dollars in direct mail and billboards and radio spots and oh, those god-awful television commercials –

When reporters took off their campaign hats and returned once again to the public policy arena –

When the horse race with its near daily furlong by furlong updates from the pollsters and pundits ended –

There stood Christopher J. Christie who will be Governor of the State of New Jersey as we begin the second decade of the 21st Century. What we saw is encouraging and hopeful.

We saw our new Governor in Newark of all places – at a charter school, standing side-by-side with a Democrat ward leader.

We saw our new Governor in Woodbridge, the state’s fifth largest municipality – McGreevey Country – with the Mayor who served as Treasurer in that Administration.

We saw him in the heart of “Republican Country” – Tom’s River in Ocean County – listening to Mayors starved for a little love and affection from Trenton.

We saw him at a high school in Hamilton Township – a swing town, home to thousands of state workers – unflinching and happily answering question after question after question from eager young adults.

In all of those places we saw nary a compromise of his core values and principles. And that is what gives us hope. That is what encourages us.

The man who campaigned – for a change – appears to be the man who will govern.

His message never wavered:

Yes, I will lower taxes.

Yes, I will make the state more business friendly.

Yes, I will cut government.

Yes, I will make that government more competent.

And so on and so on and so on.

We should have known we were dealing with a different kind of Republican cat when in the spring and in the fall he stayed his ground when under a withering attack from different flanks: pointed attacks from the right in the spring and a brutal barrage from the left in the fall.

And NEVER did he cede his moral ground.

I now know what we’ve got as Governor and I like it.