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Much has been written and said about Chris Christie's fall, from being hailed as the GOP's brightest rising star in 2013 to being dismissed in the New York Times and Washington Post as an out-of-touch has-been. Those articles, like much of the commentary on news shows like "Morning Joe," have picked apart Governor Christie's management style, his approach to the press, and a series of miscues that followed his massive reelection landslide just 15 months ago.
Does Chris Christie seem prickly, out-of-touch, and temperamentally overmatched by the challenges of a long-running presidential campaign? Maybe. But right now, all the chattering about the New Jersey governor's failings means about as much as the kudos Rudy Giuliani was receiving at this point in the 2008 election cycle. The fact is you never know how a candidate and his family will respond to the rigors of a presidential campaign until they actually jump into the campaign.
"America's Mayor" was not up to the challenges of the process required to become America's president. And the same Bill Clinton who Sen. Bob Kerrey and many others predicted would be "opened up like a rusty can" by the glare of a presidential campaign staggered through the snows of New Hampshire in 1992 with sex scandals, draft controversies, and a slew of other challenges chasing him down to his supposed political death. He went on to be the first Democrat to get elected twice since FDR.
(More columns and blogs from Joe Scarborough)
Despite everyone's best guesses about Chris Christie, the fact is that you never know whether a batter can hit a curveball in the Bigs until, well, he steps into the batter's box and takes a swing. All the missteps from Trenton to 10 Downing Street won't mean a thing if Christie hits it out of the park in his first few New Hampshire town-hall meetings. If he does, you can bet the star-maker machinery will slowly start churning his way and we will excitedly start talking about "The Christie Comeback."
Will it happen? Who knows? But we will all get a better clue about whether it can happen or not when the governor has to handle that first curveball aimed at his head once this long political preseason finally comes to an end.