Much of what frustrated Republicans about Clinton during the 1990s was that he essentially stole their ideas and pretended to be a conservative. In retrospect, this should have been a happy dilemma. After all, having someone co-opt your ideas is certainly preferable to having them win on their own merits – which is precisely what Barack Obama has done twice since 2008 (when, I would argue, The Obama Era began.) …

The point of Beinart’s piece is to warn Democrats (who came of age during The Age of Reagan) not to forget that the world has changed. But I think he inadvertently raises another point. If a Democrat could win the White House twice during The Age of Reagan, then it’s certainly possible the right Republican could win the presidency during The Obama Era.

Enter Chris Christie. He could be the bizarro Bill Clinton.

Just as America was willing to accept a “moderate” Democratic governor from a Southern state in 1992, might they be willing to accept a “moderate” Republican from a North-eastern state in 2016? The same combination of political circumstances which allowed Clinton to win in the 90s might allow Christie to win in today’s environment.