So there is President Obama, touring devastated coastal New Jersey with Gov. Christie, a superb example of disaster-fueled bipartisanship. The president is looking, well, presidential. Which is probably about the best thing he could be doing at this moment. Note that Obama is not touring New York, which arguably suffered just as much, if not more, but whose governor happens to be a Democrat and is a state where Obama leads by 17-20 percent in the polls.
As for Christie, the man who gave the nominating speech for Mitt Romney while barely mentioning his name, would it be too crass -- though it's hard to imagine anything in this election campaign being considered too crass -- to suggest that Gov. Christie sees advantage not only in demonstrating bipartisanship with the president at this moment in time, but also in the possibility that should his "friend" Mitt not quite ascend to the presidency next week, Gov. Christie himself would be viewed as one of the very early front-runners for 2016? Do you think that has entered his mind?
This is also a useful reminder, yet again, that President Obama is not George W. Bush (think Katrina) and that the federal government is not the implacable enemy of the people but actually a safety net to help them in times of need. Like now.
This day may not persuade many people on the fence for Obama to vote for him. But it doesn't have to. Just a few. It has indeed taken a perfect storm to give both Obama and Christie at this pivotal moment a chance to advance their own interests while demonstrating bipartisanship for the good of the country.