In the wake of Sandy, an unlikely bromance blossoms between Obama and Christie

This is commentary from political blogger and cartoonist Rob Tornoe.

For days, New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie has gone out of his way to praise President Obama at every turn – on local radio, on CBS, even in an appearance on Fox News.

Today, Christie lumped more praise on the President during a tour of the storm-ravaged New Jersey coast, saying Obama “sprang into action immediately,” and has exhibited “concern and compassion” for residents effected by the storm.

“It’s been a great working relationship,” Christie added.

Keep in mind this is the same man who delivered the keynote address at Mitt Romney’s Republican nominating party, and who reportedly turned down Romney’s offer of the Vice President slot

Now, Christie has become the buddy-buddy with the President while poor Mitt has been relegated to staging donations at a storm relief event and avoiding questions about comments he made about privatizing FEMA. Awkward.

It is nice to see two politicians putting aside partisan differences in order to work towards a common goal. Watch out tea party – that’s called good government. But the cynical part of me can’t help wonder about the political calculation Christie has made. Ditch Mitt, praise Obama and ride the coattails of bipartisanship to reelection and onward to 2016.

After all, Christie hasn’t become completely post-partisan in this ordeal. Remember, he did go out of his way to attack Lorenzo Langford on national TV, basically accusing the Atlantic City mayor of sentencing his people to die by contradicting his orders to evacuate.

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Rob Tornoe is a political cartoonist and a WHYY contributor. See more of his work at RobTornoe.com, and follow him on twitter @RobTornoe.