See how you like it, Chris Christie.
President Obama responded to New Jersey’s pugnacious Republican governor’s criticisms yesterday as Christie plans to reveal his decision on a White House campaign by tomorrow.
“The guy’s thinking about running for president. He’s going to say a lot of stuff, and I think, in Republican primaries, saying nasty stuff about me is probably — polls pretty well,” the president told ABC News.
And in a dig at Christie, Obama said he’s “not sure that folks in New Jersey would necessarily agree with” the governor’s criticism.
“At every step of the way, I have tried to get the Republican Party to work with me on the biggest crisis of our lifetime. And each time we’ve gotten ‘No,’ ” the president said.
The comments were Obama’s first directed at Christie since the governor’s speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California last week, in which Christie won GOP accolades after he mocked the president as a “bystander in the Oval Office.”
While Obama spoke of Christie and the campaign, Christie was “keeping his own counsel,” according to an adviser, as he considers whether to enter the Republican primaries.
Months of saying he would not be a candidate gave way last week to Christie seriously considering a run after overtures from Nancy Reagan, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and former President George W. Bush. He is planning to announce his intentions by tomorrow.
Christie remained largely out of sight yesterday, working at his office at the State House in Trenton and attending a late-afternoon judicial swearing-in in Paterson. Again, he took no questions from the press.
The governor has all but shut down communications with his advisers — even his inner circle — telling them he had already gathered all the information he needs to make his decision. The only thing left is for him to come to a decision in his own mind.
As of late yesterday, Christie’s pals said there was no way to handicap which way the governor was leaning because he has told no one where he’s headed.
Those who have been involved in the discussions say the accelerated primary calendar is a daunting obstacle.
If Christie jumps into the race, he would be facing the first primaries and caucuses in less than 100 days — without any campaign infrastructure or organization in place.
“Maybe he could have gone back on his decision if it was six months ago,” one Christie loyalist said. “But we don’t know. We’re waiting to find out.”
As Christie considered his future, he was hit again with the criticism that he is not conservative enough to be the Republican Party’s standard-bearer.
“I know from listening to some of the people I talk to in other parts of the country — activists — they do view him as being more liberal than some of the other candidates,” presidential candidate Herman Cain said before meeting with Donald Trump in Manhattan yesterday.
Asked about Christie possibly jumping in, Cain said. “I really don’t care . . . I don’t particularly feel threatened by Gov. Christie potentially getting in the race. The thing about Cain supporters — they don’t defect. They know that I’m not a flavor of the month.”
But Cain, whose campaign has been gaining momentum in the last two weeks, said, “Paying a lot of attention to somebody who is not even in the race, I think it’s a distraction, and it does a disservice to the people.”