After Bruce Springsteen’s stinging, Bridgegate-themed “Born to Run” parody with Jimmy Fallon last month, it became pretty clear that The Boss was, uh, not a fan of Governor Chris Christie. But one thing we learned during Christie’s first post-Bridgegate town hall meeting on Thursday was that the governor is still very much a fan of Springsteen. And he hopes they can be buddies again someday, just like they were during that magical November of 2012.
The two met briefly during those raw days following Hurricane Sandy, and Springsteen told Christie the words he’d always wanted to hear: “It’s official. We’re friends.” Christie intends to hold Springsteen to that, no matter how much Springsteen makes fun of him. But he also knows he might have to give his reluctant bestie some space.
“He actually told me we were friends,” Christie said, after someone at the town hall informed him otherwise. “Hard to let that go.” But Christie knows now is not the time to press the issue. “I don’t think I’ve ever been under the delusion that, as a Bruce fan of his music, that that meant that he and I were necessarily simpatico on other issues,” he said.
The town hall attendee asked Christie to destroy his Springsteen CDs, a request Christie called “wise, sage counseling that I should accept,” but he said he wouldn’t do it. Even if he did it wouldn’t matter. “I have it all on my iPhone now.”
But even though Christie knows he and The Boss aren’t cool right now, he thinks there’s a future for them yet. “I still hope as he gets older and older, he’ll say, ‘He’s a good guy, we could be friends.’” What’s that they say about a river in Egypt?
