海角大神

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has had weight-loss surgery, according to an account in Tuesday鈥檚 New York Post. He agreed to the operation at the urging of family and friends after reaching the milestone of his half-century birthday.

The lap-band procedure is designed to cut his appetite by constricting his stomach. It鈥檚 already working, he told the Post.

鈥淎 week or two ago, I went to a steakhouse and ordered a steak and ate about a third of it, and I was full,鈥� Governor Christie said.

Is this about 2016 and the politics of appearance? After all, comedians have ribbed the non-small Christie about his weight for years.

In 2011, David Letterman did 鈥淭op Ten Ways the Country Would Be Different if Chris Christie Were President,鈥� and it was basically just a list of fat jokes. (Our favorite was No. 9, 鈥淕oodbye White House vegetable garden.鈥�) That same year, veteran political journalist Michael Kinsley wrote a Bloomberg View column saying that Christie had done well in the Garden State and might be the man to impose fiscal discipline on Washington. Then he went for the too-obvious symbolism.

鈥淧erhaps Christie is the one to help us get our national appetites under control. But it would help if he got his own under control first,鈥� Mr. Kinsley wrote.

The fact is, though, Christie is doing pretty well on the national stage just the size he is. He鈥檚 one of the most popular governors in the United States and a front-runner for the 2016 GOP nomination, trailing ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and current Florida Sen. Marco Rubio by a tick in a recent Fairleigh Dickinson University poll.

Christie himself explains his surgery as something he did for his wife and kids. It鈥檚 got nothing to do with 2016 and isn鈥檛 complicated, he said. Weight is a problem he鈥檚 struggled with for years, and it鈥檚 time to do something about it.

鈥淔or me, this is about turning 50 and looking at my children and wanting to be there for them,鈥� said Christie.

That鈥檚 a sentiment any nacho-loving spouse and parent can relate to.

If there鈥檚 something the procedure is not about, it鈥檚 Christie鈥檚 more-immediate political prospects. He鈥檚 running for reelection at the moment, and he鈥檚 so far ahead he鈥檇 need a telescope to look back at his opponent, Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono.

As of the beginning of May, Christie has raised $6.2 million for his reelection bid, according to Politico.

Senator Buono has raised about $738,000, which is not even enough to qualify for all the public matching funds to which she鈥檚 entitled, according to Jarrett Renshaw of the Newark, N.J.-based Star-Ledger.