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September 29, 2011

The Christie Interlude (… and Nancy’s As Well)

By Michael Shaw

Chris Christie Nancy Reagan

Now that Rick Perry has transitioned though stage one of the MMSG (Media Messiah Stages of Grief) — past “bright shiny object” to straddling the line between “sinking like a rock” and “flash in the pan,” we citizens get to enjoy another interlude of “find the savior.”

Currently basking in the glow of “no is just another way of being coy,” the corpulent one is at least going through the motions, which means, depending on the day, either an excursion to the border; a huge Tea Party Express Rally (in other words, a truck-stop BBQ with dozens of photographers in front of a throng at least equal in size to the headcount at the #OccupyWallStreet encampment on a rain-drenched night), or else, if it’s the middle ground he’s seeking (currently Mitt’s left flank), it’s securing an official Reagan Library photo with the ossified former First Lady, but really, touchstone to the Gipper himself. (No “just say no” jokes, please!)

Fearing I could get myself in trouble if I say more, I’m just going to sit back, enjoy the Christie interlude and, certainly, think on the meaning of that neon pink tie.

UPDATE: After reading the comments by LT and Momly, I realize I completely ducked the striking (maybe the word is, terrifying) apparition of Nancy Reagan here. The best that could be said is that Nancy (prepped for a photo produced and distributed by the library foundation) certainly seems “made up for posterity.” Speaking “less fancy,” though, what this photos touches on (as much or more than the campaign dance) is America’s denial of death — Nancy, almost literally a ghost.

(photo: handout/via Getty Images caption: In this handout provided by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (L) poses for a portrait with former first lady Nancy Reagan after Christie delivered remarks during the Perspectives on Leadership Forum at the Reagan Library on September 27, 2011 in Simi Valley, California. Influential Republicans are urging Christie to run for president and are prepared to raise money. Christie is on a Republican Party fund-raising tour with stops in Missouri and California including a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum..)

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  • Momly

    Poor Nancy; all I’ve seen of her lately is her being propped up by an assortment of politicos. Romney almost dropped her, didn’t he?

    Ossified, indeed. Just like her husband’s status in the new GOP.

  • Momly

    Poor Nancy; all I’ve seen of her lately is her being propped up by an assortment of politicos. Romney almost dropped her, didn’t he?

    Ossified, indeed. Just like her husband’s status in the new GOP.

  • LanceThruster

    Mostly off-topic but here’s what I think of everytime I see Nancy Reagan.

    When the Gorbachev’s visited the White House for the first time, Nancy went out of her way to show Raisa Gorbachev just how superior the American lifestyle was to the Soviet one because we had better things. All I could think of was how boorish would a host have to be to try to “one-up” a guest for the sake of one’s ego.

    Here’s a tidbit from that period – http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966289,00.html

    And proof positive of the American “victory” – http://denniswhitehead.photoshelter.com/gallery-img-show/Personalities/G0000HfECt0HT.kA/?&_bqG=19&_bqH=eJwLd0wsz04rDcmrdM7xNAkLNzL3ja8qN_bOLMi3Mja1MjQwsLJyj_d0sXU3AAKPNFfnEgOPEL1sR7UAkKiau2e8u6OPj2tQJDZFAFWYG4M-&I_ID=I0000Npvaldqa4eM

    • lq

      Oh yes, Ms. Gorbachev’s wrinkled stockings are much more important than having an active curiosity about her surroundings (her questions about the White House which Nancy Reagan couldn’t answer).  I had forgotten Ms. Gorbachev held a professorship, and given the nature of her observations on this tour, she earned it.

  • http://www.bagnewsnotes.com Michael Shaw

    LT,  I don’t think you’re that off-topic given that Nancy, prepped for this photo (and it’s the library that took and distributed it) is more made up for posterity and/but a ghost of her former self.

  • Anonymous

    Momly speaks of … what’s the name used in those Ben Stiller Museum movies? Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. Gigantor. Momly speaks of Gigantor’s “propping up” Nancy Reagan. My take? Look at the grip he’s clamping with that left hand. Is that “supporting,” or is it … ?

  • Anonymous

    … think on the meaning of that neon pink tie

    I’m more drawn to the meaning (as in mean-spirited) of the black suit against the midnight backdrop. With that camouflage and by drawing the former first lady in tight (judging by the position of her hands Mrs Reagan isn’t all that enthusiatic about involuntarily cozying up to the Governor) there’s hardly a hint of hutt-ness in the Governor’s pose. You are what you project yourself to be.

  • http://profiles.google.com/thomasgokey Thomas Gokey

    For me I gravitate towards Christie’s left hand. Ms. Reagan is frail and needs some support and Christie is giving it to her. It’s always hard to do without being a little bit awkward.

    What this produces on a purely visual level is a kind of clutch, a clutching onto a ghost, the past, Reagan.

  • glenn

    Nancy is a wraith, otherworldly, her slumped shoulders and her pale face and doll-like eyes, as you say, ghostly.

    Christie, beefy and bulging, smiling and flushed with vigor and health (or maybe high blood pressure) – an amazing contrast.

    Why are my eyes drawn to his pudgy right hand at his side? His left has a firm grip on Nancy, virtually holding her up. But his pudgy right hand is slack, puffy,powerless, like the hand of a small boy. I don’t know what any of it means, but I do know that my eye is drawn to that fat puffy hand.

    Look, how in contrast, the tiny, frail Nancy Reagan’s hand, with her wedding ring, looks larger, more capable, and more powerful than Christie’s child-like paw.

  • tinwoman

    who’s the prop here?

  • Bugboy

    Nancy Reagan, former actress, former First Lady, former wife, former astrological adviser to the former President, former actor, former Governor, Ronald Reagan:

    “THEY LOVE ME, THEY STILL LOVE ME!!!”

  • bks

    I’m imagining them both in swimsuits.

        –bks

  • Stella

    Why don’t the Reagans just prop a cutout of Ronnie in that photo-op space and give a frail old woman a break from her service as an ornament?

    Is there a slide show somewhere of photos taken in that spot?

  • Linda

    BEFORE you get in trouble? You of all people actually worry about that? ;)

    • http://www.bagnewsnotes.com Michael Shaw

      Where I was going with that, and I’ve been rightly called out on this, is knowing the difference between critical and mean.

  • Linda

    BEFORE you get in trouble? You of all people actually worry about that? ;)

  • Janis Edwards

    The only surprise being that she is not wearing red, or Chanel. Especially good one, Michael! “Ossified” the perfect adjective to express her symbolic and ornamental value in 2011. I am saving this photo for my Gender and Political class.

    • http://www.bagnewsnotes.com Michael Shaw

      Thanks, Janice. I should emphasize, though, it was the readership that inspired me to look again, and look deeper. I’m so pleased and excited how the commenting community is growing, thinking, reflecting as much as I am.

  • Matt

    that’s not really nancy reagan.

    christie’s at madame tussauds.

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