The good news is that Christie and Pence are running
Chris Christie is running for president and so is Mike Pence. This is good news for two good reasons: Both are decent human beings and both could handle the job.
That matters. The president has so much impact on so much of American life and the life of the world. We are not living in the 1950s or 1970s, when our problems were large but appeared manageable.
The country seems to have lost faith in itself and in its political system, which is both foolish and tragic. Moreover, our government faces two fundamental crises:
First, the fate of the physical earth — global warming and with it the corruption, or dying, of fundamental gifts of nature, like the sea and the creatures within it. Second, the resurgence of authoritarian, or outright totalitarian, regimes and leaders throughout the world, from Russia and China to Hungary and Nicaragua.
The Republican nominee for president matters because our times are difficult and our tasks daunting, but also because that nominee has a good chance of becoming president.
We are a 50/50 nation and all that many people can see about Joe Biden is that he is old. Mr. Biden has been a real president, better than we deserved, given the lack of seriousness with which the parties, the media, and the voters approach picking our presidents.
America is working. Employment is at its highest rate in one hundred years. Mr. Biden has kept the peace, indeed, extracted us from a forever war, albeit messily. He has rebuilt the Western alliance and returned the United States to world leadership. He has begun to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, after decades of unkept promises to do so. He has put the force of the federal government behind protecting both American jobs and the nation’s environment.
That’s quite a record for such a short period — roughly the time President Kennedy was in office. Moreover, President Biden has understood what it seems no Republican has wanted to understand — the threat to democracy, both at home and abroad. He has rightly made the defense of democracy a hallmark of his presidency.
History will treat Joe Biden well, especially after the disastrous presidencies of Donald Trump and George W. Bush and the anemic and amorphous presidencies of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Mr. Biden may well win reelection if his health and the economy hold up. But he may not.
My own sense is that much of the country has decided that his advanced age is now disqualifying. I think this is unjust and has much to do with the shallowness of our political coverage and discourse.
Mr. Biden can still think. He grasps things like congressional deal making and the NATO alliance better than anyone in our politics. His physical frailty and speech impediment should not overshadow his accomplishments. But they often do. I personally think any of the current Republican candidates, other than Donald Trump, can defeat the president.
So, given our monumental problems, how best to protect the country, and perhaps help it to progress?
Mr. Christie says that “taking out” Mr. Trump and winning are actually the same goal. Both for him and his party.
I don’t see how he can do either, given the current, typical GOP primary voter. But that is the way to protect the Republican Party and the country.
Mr. Christie is qualified. I don’t think he has Mr. Biden’s knowledge of the federal government or of the world. He has never shown much interest in foreign policy. But he was a competent governor of a large state. He believes in basic human and political decency, and in compromise. And he is fun. We haven’t had happy warriors in American politics since Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill.
Mr. Christie is blunt, smart, a master communicator, and a student of history. He is interested in both traditional Republican values and in governing. What a refreshing change he would be.
Mr. Pence is not fun. But he is statesmanlike, eminently decent and ethical. And he is highly qualified, having served in Congress, as a governor, and as vice president. Mr. Pence also has a measure of humility. He listens. He might just care more about the country than himself. In a proper party, and in a proper polity, he would be the frontrunner in the race.
And, just a few years ago, we were more sane. People like Walter Mondale and Bob Dole were presumptive nominees, because they were not yahoos or firebrands but responsible professionals who could be trusted with public office.
But, as of today, neither of these men has a snowball’s chance in hell of winning a presidential nomination. Let’s hope events scramble the race.