Politicians. As Americans we pride ourselves on our freedom and most of all presidential leaders. With that duty however comes great responsibility. Even the slightest controversy can severely damage a politician’s reputation. From Nixon’s watergate scandal to Bill Clinton’s affair, these crises have put not only the candidate themselves, but their entire political party in jeopardy. That’s why it came as no surprise Chris Christie and the Republican party were in deep waters when he was accused of closing bridge lanes due to lack of control of his political agenda.

CNN’s political article titled, “Lawyer for scandal figure: ‘Evidence’ disputes Christie on bridge lane closures,” discusses New Jersey governor Chris Christie’s alleged bridge dilemma. Reports and evidence suggests that the governor requested the Washington Bridge that connects northern Manhattan, Fort Lee, NJ be shut down from Sept. 9-13th. It is believed that Christie sought to punish Fort Lee’s Democratic Mayor Mark Sokolich after he endorsed Christie’s opponent in a recent 2013 campaign. Christie ‘supposedly’ got first word of the bridge closing weeks later on October 1st. However Christie didn’t make a public statement announcing the bridge scandal until January 9th when he led a two hour news conference.

Chris Christie’s delayed response makes his denial seem unbelievable. Whether he was responsible for the bridge closing or not, I think the general public and especially the Republican party would have appreciated and respected a more immediate response to the situation. When a politician doesn’t handle a situation right after it occurs it makes you wonder if they’re responsible and if they have something to hide. Furthermore, before the government accuses Christie of anything, research needs to be done on the situation. The government also needs to come forward and more thoroughly address their efforts to investigate the crisis.

Instead of taking a backseat to the scandal like Christie has done, he should have immediately stepped forward as soon as the situation occurred. He needs to renew the trust of the Republican party and other supporters to put him back in line with his opponents. In order to address this issue he should publicly restate his goals and objectives as a loyal and trustworthy governor to his key publics. Christie should also set future goals to shorten his response time to a crisis and make the general public immediately aware of a crisis in the future. With these key objectives, Christie is sure to win back his reputation and overshadow his current accusations with a new presence.