海角大神

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

- Eminem, 鈥淟ose Yourself鈥�

Amid all the buzz about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), Decoder has been firmly planted in the skeptic camp.

We see a host of reasons it would be an uphill climb: It鈥檚 awfully late (the first ballot deadline is Oct 31), Christie has said 鈥渘o鈥� in about every way possible (including telling Diane Sawyer he doesn鈥檛 think he鈥檚 ready for the job), and, for all his straight-talking appeal, Christie isn鈥檛 exactly a perfect fit with the GOP base (he鈥檚 a Northeastern governor who was once pro-choice).

And yet鈥�

On got us thinking: 鈥滻f Christie doesn鈥檛 run this time,鈥� he argued, 鈥渢here will be no next time.鈥� If Christie waits four years (assuming Republicans lose in 2012), he could very well be competing against GOP stars like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush or Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. More to the point, whatever lightning in a bottle Christie seems to have captured right now on the national stage almost certainly won鈥檛 last. That means this is probably his best shot.

It reminds us in some ways of the national , before he actually entered the race back in 2007 (though Obama entered far earlier in the cycle). Much of the initial demurring coming from the Obama camp was along the lines of what Christie has been saying: He wasn鈥檛 ready, he had just been elected, he was focusing on the job at hand.

In fact, we remember having exactly this conversation with Obama鈥檚 communications director Robert Gibbs in early 2006, trying to get a hint out of him: It was Obama鈥檚 鈥渕oment,鈥� we posited, and when that moment comes, you have to grab it, right? He smiled, and demurred.

And then, Obama got in.

Want more?
Governor Christie is scheduled to give a speech on 鈥淩eal American Exceptionalism鈥� at the Ronald Reagan library tonight at 9pm ET. Watch it live.

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