“In politics, you’ll never please everybody, and Rush Limbaugh or somebody else may not be happy with everything you do,” says Larry Bathgate, an influential Garden State Republican and Christie fundraiser. “But Christie knows that people want to see political leaders from both parties coming together. He isn’t concerned about the commentators, or whether it’s a plus for the president.”

Republican state senator Tom Kean Jr., who is close with Christie, says the governor relishes being a manager during times of crisis more than politicking, so he’s not surprised to see his friend embrace his federal partners and publicly ignore politics. “If the administration is giving the appropriate support, Chris is going to recognize that,” Kean says. “If they weren’t, believe me, he’d say so.”…

Craig Shirley, a Reagan biographer and longtime conservative activist, says conservatives shouldn’t look at Christie’s appreciation for the president as a Machiavellian maneuver. “If he didn’t meet with Obama, just imagine what the political press would say,” he says. “Christie would be called petty for injecting presidential politics. So he had no choice.”