CHRIS CHRISTIE: THE HEFTY PRICE OF BEING UNIQUE

He is not the first nor the only one; it has happened many times before: politicians once and again fall in the trap of their own ego, and remain victims of their unfathomable designs. Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey illustrates like few others that boys should be boys and girls should be girls, figuratively speaking of course.

The governor of the Garden State has for years enjoyed the luxury of being direct, crystal clear, and at times even harsh. No traditional republican can win in his state; it takes a lot of talent, maneuverability and reaching out; just across liberal New York, the state is unlikely to choose someone from the far right. Therefore, Christie has broken ranks with his party in several occasions in order to please his left to center constituency. It's called pragmatism, realpolitiks or survival and for some time it worked. He got elected twice to the highest job and became almost unbeatable.

In the aftermath of hurricane Sandy, however, the governor appeared to have pandered a little too much to the left segment of the electorate with his almost subservient praise of the president's role and alleged diligence to face the catastrophic event. He didn't only appeared to have bowed too low, but managed to alienate a chunk of his independent followers who had already felt disillusioned by Mr. Obama's performance and saw Christie's chummy demeanor almost as a betrayal to then candidate Romney. Suddenly, his controversially maverick ways became too strident, too deferential, and even prematurely conceding. To some it indicated that he had already seen the victorious aura over Obama's head and was doing everything to gain his favors. That didn't go well with the Republican base and, ironically enough, it didn't gain him much support in the left. Not to mention that recovery in the area was not as swift as expected and did not meet the degree of shameless adulation the otherwise unbreakable "lighting rod" had dispensed to the Commander in Chief.

But the governor was still popular; regardless of isolated rants and sporadic episodes of poor anger management, he was still liked and managed to handsomely win a second term. Sandy was behind and 2016 was ahead; no doubt he was one of the darlings in his party, until the unexpected happened and he was all over the news due to the lane closure that we all have come to know as "Bridgegate". His approval numbers dropped overnight; as it is usually the case he was convicted by the main stream media before arguments were made public and reporters started digging; and dig they did!!! it was not only the lane closure in the bridge but all of a sudden news came that he had used money supposedly assigned to Sandy victims for an ad promoting his work as governor. The left was out for blood and while the Malaysian plane and the Russian invasion of Crimea have taken some of the heat off his back hounds are likely to go back to their prey once the present helter-skelter subsides.

The lesson is clear: one can reach out across the aisle only so much; if you're a Republican you must act like one, especially during the elections. One can stray a bit but not too much. Pandering won't pay in the end and the left has a proverbial sense of opportunity and unscrupulous use of fellow travelers who sooner or later are dumped before the train gets to its destination. Whether we have seen the last of Christie as a potential presidential nominee for the GOP remains to be defined but one thing seems to be certain: when the time comes you stick to your own. Drifting away, even in New Jersey, can prove irreversibly detrimental.