Christie Wants to "Move On" from His Admin's $400 Million Mistake

I'll bet he does:

Gov. Chris Christie said today there is one clear lesson from the carnage of last week’s fiasco over the state’s application for federal Race to the Top funding.

“Don’t lie to the governor,” he said. “That’s the message.”

Christie, speaking at a press conference in Budd Lake, said he believed it is time to “move on” now that ousted Education Commissioner Bret Schundler has admitted responsibility Monday for the factual error that cost the state up to $400 million.

“There’s really no enduring mysteries left in this,” he said. “We now know who made the mistake, we know how he made the mistake, we know when he made the mistake. And so it’s time now to move on.”

It's interesting. Chris Christie's first message following the revelation that his own administration's mistake cost the state of New Jersey $400 million was to blame the Obama administration. Only after saying, in effect, "the buck stops over there" for a couple of days did Christie finally own up to the mistake. Only sort of.

The lesson Christie apparently learned was that it is politically efficacious to blame a subordinate then beg the media to "move on." Not exactly the kind of resolute leadership we might expect from the man put forward as a model for the GOP.

But if Christie actually wants the media to "move on" from his administration's $400 million mistake, he's going to have to take a bit more ownership of his administration. It's not really enough to say the mistake was someone else's fault. He was elected to be Governor of New Jersey, a position that carries enormous power as the only statewide elected non-federal executive official, with the prerogative to select other executive officials (like the one under whose watch the $400 million mistake was made). If he wants to be Governor, he has to take responsibility for his administration -- and not only its successes, but also its mistakes. And not to belabor the point, but as far as mistakes come, this one was a biggie.