Hold me now
It's hard for me to say I'm sorry
I just want you to stay
After all that you've been through
I will make it up to you
I promise to...

-Chicago

Well, Chris Christie proved he can say, 'I'm sorry,' with the best of them. (It's clear the governor has come home with chocolates and flowers at least once in his married life.) Of course the question now isn't his performance, but what did he know, and when did he know it? In the era of finger-pointing and excuses, scapegoats are often thrown under the bus quickly. The fact is we have a massive leadership crisis in America, in all facets of life. In politics, snipers are on every roof, and each spoken sentence is potentially laced with an improvised explosive device.

Even an attempt to issue an apology is fraught with danger.

I think Christie put on a great show yesterday, coming out the gate with a direct apology. This is the same guy that threw his entire party under the bus, with his exaggerated gesture of apperception toward President Obama; for breaking off a piece of the billions that the citizens of New Jersey were forced to send to Washington DC in the first place. This is the same guy, who is called selfish and petty in how he handles adversaries and slights. And this is the same guy, called a bully, by many. But yesterday, he was sincere and decisive. He apologized, fired people, and promised to make changes.

He said the buck stopped at his desk.

We haven't been able to say the same thing, when it comes to President Obama, whose litany of scandals are always met with a strategy of circling the wagons, and deflecting blame; no apologies and no accountability. In business, this is also a big- time problem. A few years ago, there was talk of major shake-ups on boards of directors, but that's never really happened. In fact, it's mostly created a vacuum, filled by activists investors whose interests are more short-term in nature, than the ma and pa investors that want more accountability; not necessarily a shake-down for quick cash sitting on the balance sheets.

Maybe it was an act from a political thespian, with the chops to play King Lear; but whether you think Christie is a RINO, or the answer to the GOPs dreams, he showed how to issue a mea culpa.

Jobs Data

The unemployment rate for December came in at 6.7 percent; lower than the 7.0 percent reported for November and below the Street's consensus estimate of 7.0 percent. However, non-farm payroll employment increased during the month by 74,000, worse than economists' average forecast calling for a 185,000 increase.