New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he will ‘probably’ decide on whether to run for the presidency in 2015.
“Let me keep doing my job,” he said, asked about presidential aspirations. “When those decisions need to be made, I’ll make them.”
And when will those decisions need to be made? “Probably not till 2015.”
But, of course, he has a few thoughts on the matter in the meantime.
“After you lose two elections, you want to win. I think our party should be focused on making sure we nominate the best possible candidate to get elected in 2016,” Christie said on Tuesday’s Morning Joe.
“We’re not doing what we’re doing on the state level, where we’re being enormously successful,” Christie said. “We’ve got 30 of 50 Republican governors in this country. Why? At the state level, they see the Republican Party as being doers, we actually get things done for people and we’re pragmatists and we bring people together—and we do so without violating our principles.”
Christie earned ire of his party for partnering with President Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy in the course of rebuilding. He laughed on Morning Joe that some thought he should have “worn his Romney sweatshirt on the tour” of ravaged coastal New Jersey.
The Republican governor’s approval ratings in New Jersey have remained remarkably high: 70% of New Jerseyans approve of the job he’s doing in a recent poll.
In Congress, however, Christie sees two inefficient, disconnected parties.
“Almost everything I see coming out of the floor of Congress from both parties shocks me,” he said. “What you’ve seen in Congress is people are playing in both end-zones and nobodies playing in the middle and trying to get things done. They’re just screaming at each other from both end-zones.”
He then reiterated his call for leadership in Washington.
“I’m disappointed that the president hasn’t done that either,” he said, chiding the president for his recent charm offensive. “The fact that we’re in June of 2013 and we’re just talking about a charm offensive and trying to get to know Congress? You’re in the fifth year of the presidency. It’s a little late in the dating game to get to know somebody.”
Jane Timm