These days, Bruce Springsteen fandom is like a rite of passage for middle-aged politicians/political pundits. But no one, not even David Brooks in Europe, comes close to Hurricane Sandy breakout star Chris Christie's obsession. Dude has reportedly seen Springsteen live over 130 times and is known to enter a prayer-like trance/fall asleep during the Boss's concerts.

All this devotion has been complicated a bit by the fact that Springsteen mostly shuns the governor because of politics and whatnot, although Bruce is apparently "very kind" to Christie's children. But still, how sad for Christie! All that unrequited obsession.

Well, Christie finally got some love in return last Friday at the "Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together" benefit. Perhaps to congratulate Christie on his sartorially-inspired leadership during the storm, Springsteen shook the governor's hand and hugged him after the concert. Sounds like a small, normal enough gesture. Not for Christie. He was so moved by the moment that he cried afterwards.

"Bruce and I had an opportunity to chat for a while Friday night… we hugged and he told me, ‘it's official, we're friends," Christie said at a news briefing.

Maybe it's just a touching moment for the governor after a certainly trying week. Or maybe it's a tad weird, but whatever, that's that - no more widespread reporting on the mostly one-sided high-profile fanboy crush, right? Nope, there's more.

While President Obama was flying to Ohio earlier today, he called the New Jersey governor to talk about Sandy-related stuff, and ended the call by saying he had someone who wanted to say hello.

"Governor, this is Bruce," said the voice on the line. As in Bruce Springsteen.

Christie mentioned the chat in a press conference and White House spokesperson Jay Carney confirmed that the conversation took place. So, now we have two major newspapers reporting on two separate relatively-normal greetings between two famous New Jersey residents. What a small, but exciting, preview of what's to come if Christie runs for president in 2016 (hopefully against the magical, unstoppable Hillary Clinton/Cory Booker ticket).

[Image via AP]