In a recent 60 Minutes interview, President Obama said the U.S. intelligence community underestimated ISIS, and that didn’t sit well with expert apologizer Chris Christie. “It should be ‘we,’ Mr. President. It’s your administration, and when you’re the leader, you have to be held accountable for what they do. I was disturbed by that,” the New Jersey governor told CNN.
Christie elaborated in a weirdly similar Politico interview. “I think that that sets the wrong tone. Lots of things — and believe me I’ve lived this — happen on your watch that you’re not directly responsible for but you have to be accountable for, stand up, explain your position but say, I’m ultimately accountable.” Obviously, the president should have taken full responsibility, then described how much it hurts to be betrayed by your staffers.
Christie also declared that the president needs to “come up with a plan that helps bring the world together to fight this fight.” When CNN pointed out that bringing together a coalition of Arab nations to take on ISIS is pretty much all Obama’s been talking about recently, Christie said he doesn’t consider that a “complete plan.” “Listen, as I’ve shown before, if I think the president is doing something well I don’t hesitate to say that he is,” Christie said. “But I think the jury is still out on this because we shouldn’t be in this position to begin with.”
When asked how he would address the ISIS threat, Christie said he doesn’t have to answer because “I’m not the commander-in-chief.” It’s an interesting 2016 strategy: If Americans really want to know what Christie thinks about any issues of substance, they’ll have to elect him first.
