Whay's so gutsy about it? Assuming he does have presidential aspirations, what good does it do him to kowtow to the right wing in a fashion that guarantees that if he wins the nomination he'll lose the election?
Because Christie is trying to sound bipartisan and moderate when he is neither of those descriptions. Did everyone just suddenly forget how this guy was before Sandy? He wasn't even close to being bipartisan and it was pretty much agreed that we was to the right of Romney as a pretty traditional union-busting Republican.
He's been pretty bipartisan. Has he been able to move the state in a more conservative direction? Yes, but he's worked alongside the Democratic legislature on many issues. I don't know where you saw this apparent consensus that he was a "traditional union-busting Republican" (which I assume would be along the lines of Walker/Kasich/etc), but I don't think it was here. In my opinion, Christie is more or less a moderate Republican in the same way that Huntsman is seen as one. Fiscally conservative (but not extreme), realistic foreign policy views, socially moderate (civil unions, environment, drug war, etc), and has a desire to work with Democrats in order to help his state over helping his party.
