The Professor and the Prosecutor
Gov. Chris Christie has mastered the politics of austerity. Can Obama learn from his success?
John O'Boyle / The Star-Ledger-CorbisNew Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has made enemies and gained presidential buzz.
You wouldn’t know it from looking at them, or hearing them talk, or hearing people talk about them, but Barack Obama and Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, have a lot in common. Both were elected in the midst of the Great Recession. Both inherited a post-apocalyptic mess from a predecessor of the opposing party. Both sold themselves to voters as truth-telling change agents. And both plan to spend 2011 tackling the same thorny issues: education reform, public-pension stabilization, and long-term debt reduction. During the 2009 campaign, one Christie commercial even showed his supporters cheering and waving signs as