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Crist has lost his invincible touch

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 13, 2009

What's with Charlie Crist?

The self-styled "people's governor," one of Florida's most popular political figures and certainly one of its most likeable, seems to have lost his touch.

Polls show him still leading in his campaign for U.S. Senate, but he's losing ground to rival Marco Rubio, the former House speaker, who has picked up grass-roots Republican support from party activists most likely to vote in the primary.

And so Crist, who has governed from the center to the frustration of his party's conservative base, is now lurching to the right - trying to prove his conservative bonafides and making a spectacle of himself doing it.

In the last few weeks Crist has embarrassed himself by being less than honest with constituents.

First, he declined to meet with President Obama when the president visited a solar energy plant in Arcadia, even though Crist, as governor, has championed alternative energy solutions.

Later, he claimed he did not know the president was traveling to Jacksonville to meet with sailors and Marines.

Then he insisted in several interviews that he never supported the president's $787 billion stimulus package that Congress approved in February.

Each of these attempts to distance himself from the president backfired. They made the governor look weak, even cowardly, and certainly not anti-Obama.

Beyond the fact that informed citizens knew Obama was coming to Florida last month, the St. Petersburg Times reported Wednesday that Crist aides in Tallahassee and Washington were notified three days before the president's Jacksonville appearance on Oct. 26.

And then there was the infamous interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. When asked about the stimulus plan, Crist said, "I didn't endorse it. I, you know, I didn't even have a vote on the darned thing. I understood that it was going to pass, and I wanted to be able to utilize it for the benefit of my fellow Floridians."

And he said more. "You know, unfortunately, the president thinks that everything we need to do for every problem that comes along is spend more money and that's just wrong."

Sounds a bit different than he did in interviews in February, when he lobbied members of the Florida legislative delegation to support the bill.

He told Time magazine: "I see this package as a pragmatic, common sense opportunity to move forward. I didn't campaign for Obama, we don't agree on everything, but he's my president, and my job is to help Florida stay in the black."

And he was right. The $12.2 billion the state received helped plug holes in the state budget. We can argue whether the stimulus was the right move, but inasmuch as it was coming, Florida got something for it. We would be much worse off if more public employees and teachers were let go because of the economy. Most voters, including conservatives, understand the tough financial choices Crist faced.

Charlie should not fear defending doing what he thought was best for the people of Florida. Instead, he should stand tall and tell us what he believes. If he continues to give voters the impression he is an opportunist who stands for little more than the next campaign, his poll numbers and his political prospects will continue to erode.

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