Obama recently received another feather in his cap in the form of an endorsement from former Republican Florida governor Charlie Christ. In Sunday’s Tampa Bay Times he called Obama, “the right leader for our state and the nation.”
Christ is a moderate Republican who lost his bid for Senate two years ago to tea party favorite Marco Rubio. Perhaps bitter from that experience, he used the endorsement as an opportunity to point the finger at his Party. As he wrote, the Republican Party is
“pitched so far to the extreme right on issues important to women, immigrants, seniors and students that they’ve proven incapable of governing for the people.”
Florida Republican Party Chairman Lenny Curry took the opportunity to criticize Christ, calling his endorsement of the president “a repugnant display from a self-centered, career politician.”
In a recent press release, Curry cited many instances when Christ disagreed with Obama’s positions. As Curry wrote in his release,
“Beyond the appalling timing of this move, Crist now professes his support for Barack Obama despite spending his entire political career bashing the political agenda that Obama advances.”
The endorsement for Obama comes just as the GOP is preparing for its nominating convention, and as their logistics for that convention are being made more complicated by Tropical Storm Isaac.