THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

As part of his continuing futile effort to be president, The Outlaw Jersey Whale Chris Christie is presenting himself on the campaign trail a great protector of the people.

As a presidential candidate, Gov. Chris Christie has sought to differentiate himself by spotlighting his tenure as the United States attorney for New Jersey, framing it as a time when he spent his “life protecting our country” against terrorism. The message has begun to resonate: Mr. Christie, long an underdog in the Republican presidential field, has recently risen in the polls.

A close examination of Mr. Christie’s record as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor from 2002 to 2008 shows that he did acquire greater counterterrorism experience than his current rivals. But it also shows that he has, at times, overstated the significance of the terrorism prosecutions he oversaw — he has called them “two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world” — and appears to have exaggerated his personal role in obtaining court permission for surveillance of terrorism suspects.

At the first Republican debate in August, Mr. Christie called himself “the only person on this stage who’s actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the Foreign Intelligence Service Court.” Similarly, his campaign website says “Christie’s office” secured authorization from that court for the surveillance of terrorism suspects.

While the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA court, did approve national security wiretaps in New Jersey during Mr. Christie’s tenure, neither he nor his office secured them. Only the Office of Intelligence at the Justice Department’s headquarters drafts and submits applications for surveillance and then litigates them before the court.

Mr. Christie’s campaign website credits his office with obtaining an indictment against the kidnapper of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was abducted and killed in Pakistan, and notes that the defendant, Ahmed Omar Sheikh, was “sentenced to death.” It does not mention a key fact: The trial took place in Pakistan. Mr. Christie’s office had no role in it.

The Big Protector is mostly talk and his protection skills are after the fact. He is like that dog who barks and barks at the slightest provocation, until you end up throwing a book or shoe at it to get it to shut up. And when a real intruder shows up that dog will be all tail wags and happy licks while you are cleaned out.