Though taking shots at how Obama handles a matter on which Christie is nearly as ignorant as he is irrelevant (while carefully ignoring his own partys willful indifference to negotiations) indicates he'd be right at home in that environment. That said, both parties are seemingly so bereft of ideas that since Whitewatergate (at least) the "loyal" opposition has passed on policy initiatives in favor of waiting for the next *gate to bring down opponents, while the ruling party has similarly foregone most major initiatives in favor of a stand pat policy trying to avoid a major scandal long enough for re-election. It's no wonder the Newt's jumping back into the strident combative DC world he and Hillary did so much to create. If Christie won the White House he'd probably find, as Obama and Clinton did, that sophisticated state politicians can't teach national rubes much after all; quite the reverse. Republicans don't want to give up the "all Democrats always raise taxes" sound bite and Democrats don't want to give up the "all Republicans always want to starve gramma and Junior" sound bite (Political Wire says Pelosi considers the Ryan budget "a gift" and plans to aggressively use it to retake the House next year).

Fact is neither side in DC is interested in a compromise benefiting the whole nation, they're interested in preserving an impasse harmful to the whole nation and blaming it entirely on their opponents. Obama learned how that works when he tried to pass a national healthcare plan and wound up with a bill the Republican leadership practically wrote, but whose repeal they nonetheless made the centerpiece of their midterm election campaign (never mind that winning EVERY SINGLE SENATE RACE would still have left them SEVEN votes short of overriding Obamas veto on any repeal measure; effective government is about rhetoric, not policy: That's how we got Obama. :rolleyes When Congress' Radical Republicans "negotiate" it's not about compromise, but wringing every possible concession from Democrats before voting for legislation they always knew had to pass (or just walking away despite all concessions then blaming Obamas lack of leadership, which is a case of being right for the wrong reasons). It's like negotiating with Yasser Arafat; anything less than total capitulation means no deal, and knowing that from the start makes failure to reach a capitulated "compromise" YOUR fault.

Gubernatorial grandstanding notwithstanding, Political Wire also notes there may be some movement soon legislation to raise the debt ceiling and pass a budget, both of which Congressional Republicans know they MUST do to avoid a national disaster that would put the partisan sniping in perspective and likely doom both parties: The "support our troops, smoke 'em out of their holes" GOP is taking time out from waving the bloody flag they've been sporting since the Civil War to suggest trimming the budget with defense cuts, something the White House has indicated they're open to as well. That lets both sides save face by refusing to budge on their base pleasing rhetoric (though, at the end of the day, Congressional Republicans DID promise their base huge entitlement cuts), but heaven help Obamas butt if there's a major military disaster in the next year, because in that case Republicans will be Johnny on the Spot to accuse him of making America vulnerable by cutting defense spending to save his wasteful entitlements (and conveniently never mention it was their suggestion. )

Anyway, what are you and Christie complaining about; the federal government is so inactive it's about to default on its debt and declare America bankrupt: From the perspective that says, "government isn't the solution, government is the PROBLEM" this is paradise.