If there’s anything Gov. Chris Christie has made clear, it is that he does not care whether people like him. He’ll tell anyone off, do what he wants and generally be rude. You know what, the result has been that a lot of people don’t like him. Frankly, this attitude has made it very easy for me to not like him, although it does kind of make me respect him.

However, after the way Christie has behaved with regard to this upcoming election, I cannot help but to applaud him. First and foremost, Christie’s praise of President Barack Obama regarding his actions during the hurricane was interesting. What was incredible about this was the fact that many on the right criticized Christie for saying anything good about Obama, saying it amounted to an endorsement of him.

I realized the other truly admirable thing Christie did as I was waiting in line to vote early Monday. In a move rare for New Jersey, our governor ordered that County Clerk offices stay open to allow for people to vote early. I chose to do so because it worked much better for my schedule. However, for some, it was their only option because their polling locations could not open.

Christie decided to do this because even in the wake of a natural disaster he believes “there’s no reason why anybody shouldn’t vote. We’re going to have a full, fair, transparent, open voting process.” This is the type of mentality that should fuel our government. In a country where voter turnout is lower than it should be, and every year there is some sort of accusation of voter fraud, there is nothing more important than getting people to vote, and keeping elections fair.

So in the spirit of our governor, I am going to say nice things about him. He acted truly admirably lately. As he himself remarked, this does not amount to an endorsement of Christie in future elections. This does not amount to an endorsement of the Republican Party in this election. It just amounts to the simple truth that if someone does a good job — they deserve to have it acknowledged.