What madness is this?

Wunderkind Ross Douthat, 32, is a thoughtful conservative not given to flights of fancy. So why is this erudite, rational, Harvard magna cum laude graduate in the tank for Gov. Chris Christie of all people? He actually wants the fat man to run for president in 2012. The Republican governor, staying stubbornly reality-based, has repeatedly said: Fuhgeddaboudit! Yet Douthat keeps tossing hosannas at the Jersey Shore politician. You'd think he would pine for a brainy conservative (assuming the species still exist). But he pines for Christie. For the love of god, why?

It's possible that Douthat has watched way too many Season 5 episodes of The West Wing. Fans will know that for a time, House Speaker Glen Walken (John Goodman), a blustery Republican, becomes Acting President. Though Walken careens through the White House like a bull in a china shop, we eventually learn he is an honorable man. Christie bears an eerie resemblance to the Walken character in looks, girth and bluster. Is Douthat, then, in the grip of what psychologists call transference?

I am of course having a bit of fun at Douthat's expense. But his rationalizations for Christie's appeal are decidedly not tongue in cheek. He argues that Christie is a fat man, therefore he "projects authority." (Yeah, he really said that.) His gruff, everyman persona signals "gravitas." He has "executive experience" (though with just two years as governor, he's no Fiorello LaGuardia). And because Christie is not a Tea Party nutcase, he could "win swing states and perhaps even blue states.” In short, bluster, a beer belly and blue-collar street cred endow Christie with the stuff of West-Wingian greatness. It's hard to believe this nonsense is coming from the heretofore sane Douthat. Oddly, he never examines Christie's native intelligence, learnedness, philosophy, ability to understand complex issues, independence of mind, political courage, maturity, capacity to learn, and sophistication in evaluating expert advice (blow this last qualification and it's hello WWIII). In other words, this is all the crucial stuff that distinguishes an Abe Lincoln from a George W. Bush. Lincoln had zero executive experience. Dubya had boatloads. But we still ended up chasing phantom WMDs in the sands of Babylon, right?

Moreover, have we really lowered the bar to the point where it's perfectly fine to elect Joe Six-Pack to the presidency? (Think Rick Perry.) Perhaps Christie really is a plain-talking, overweight version of Thomas Jefferson. I don't know. But I do know Douthat hasn't convincingly made that case. If he cannot, then what does that say about his mindset and that of Americans who seem so eager to embrace a lessor light to lead us? What madness is this?