NJ Governor Christie Teaches A Teacher

Over the weekend, I saw several clips of Governor Chris Christie educating a teacher about politics, economics, and a little dignity and decorum thrown in. Christie at a town meeting dutifully listened to the teacher repeating all of the union's talking points while carrying Obama's water on the issue of "middle class" tax cuts.

After listening patiently and respectfully to the nonsense flowing out of this "educator's" mouth, Christie first denied that his office was treating the New Jersey teachers contemptuously or that they were being singled out for sacrifice. Then, the teacher made a big display of laughing like a rabid hyena and shouting back at Christie before he had completed his discussion of what she was claiming. That did it. Christie is that unique thing in politics--a gentleman who is also painfully blunt when courtesy is greeted with rudeness.

Governor Christie is a big man (and I do mean big, both physically and metaphorically). But he does not suffer fools gladly. Give him a respectful argument and he will respond with a respectful rebuttal. Give him crap, and he'll slap you down (verbally, of course). This teacher clearly did not know what she was talking about, but Christie would have let that slide. However, when she pulled the usual leftist nonsense cum boorishness, he let loose. He reminded her that he had patiently listened to her screed, without once laughing, jeering or making a public fool of himself. He expected the same in return, or he would simply not waste his and the audience's time responding to her. I stood up and cheered, and I was alone with the TV.

Politicians today seem to come in two types. Those who blither and blather, pretend to be listening carefully then respond with some pseudo-intellectual drivel that has nothing to do with the discussion at hand (Barack Harvard Obama), or the rude, confrontational type who wants to hear nothing from people who have even the smallest disagreement with him (Snarlin' Arlen Specter). Christie is a breath of fresh air. He speaks clearly, rarely using catchphrases, addresses issues directly and honestly, and leaves nobody wondering where he stands. He's a fine debater, and a very good educator. He's an old-fashioned man who respects the arguments of others, but will not be insulted or demeaned by lesser people.

The source of the teacher's ire is that the governor is also that rare breed who talks about balancing state budgets and universal sacrifice. The state education budget is just one of a multitude of programs that had to be trimmed. But the teachers unions reacted as if he had just shouted fire in a crowded theater full of union thugs. Their stalking-horse repeated the whole "us poor teachers" mantra, including a statement entirely unsupported by fact or reality about New Jersey teachers being among the best and most dedicated in the world. Yeah, right.

Christie's "mistake" was beginning his remarks by very reasonably pointing out that his budget cuts were not singling out the teachers, and that in his earlier remarks he had said nothing indicating that he thought New Jersey teachers were of low quality (though they definitely are). They are among the highest-paid for the poorest results. That brought on the childish and rude behavior from the teacher. Christie didn't even talk about the fact that the only reason New Jersey teachers can claim to be "middle class" is their gross overpayment for such poor results which cuts them off from the "working poor and oppressed unemployed." But the teacher had to say it because Obama has abandoned his earlier "po' folks should eat the rich" strategy and is now talking about a middle-class that just days before was the bourgeoisie whom Marx, Lenin, the teachers unions, and Obamists so clearly hate.

The teachers unions in New Jersey are a barbaric lot by all measurements, but Christie was generous enough to at least give this teacher a chance to behave like an intelligent adult. Like most of her students, she failed. When Christie asked the teachers unions to accept a one year pay freeze (not a pay cut), the union leaders responded by sending out an e-mail to their membership requesting that they pray for Christie's death. I guess he shouldn't have expected much better from one of the members.

But in the long run, it won't be Christie who will be sleeping with the fishes. The left has overplayed its hand time and again. Unions have received very favorable treatment from Democrats at both the state and federal level while at the same time playing a major part in the economic crisis by virtue of their unsustainable and outrageous pay scales and benefits, particularly retirement benefits. It may take awhile to clean out the union Augean stables. Chris Christie is in many ways the New Jersey Hercules who can do just that--and remain a gentleman while doing it.