New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, supporter of Mitt Romney and keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention, has repeatedly praised President Obama’s leadership in coordinating the federal relief response to Hurricane Sandy.
“The president has been all over this and he deserves great credit,” Christie said on Morning Joe Tuesday. “I’ve been on the phone with him, like I said, yesterday, personally three times. He gave me his number at the White House, told me to call him if I needed anything. And he absolutely means it.”
“He said he would get it done,” Christie said of Obama on Fox News. “At 2 a.m., I got a call from FEMA to answer a couple of final questions and then he signed the [Major Disaster] Declaration this morning. So I have to give the president great credit. He’s been on the phone with me three times in the last 24 hours. He’s been very attentive, and anything that I’ve asked for, he’s gotten to me. So, I thank the president publicly for that. He’s done—as far as I’m concerned—a great job for New Jersey.
New Jersey is coping with perhaps the heaviest damage of any state afflicted by the storm. An estimated 2.4 million people are without power. Many businesses are dark, including at least 29 hospitals and 58 long-term care facilities. At least five New Jersey residents died from the storm, according to the latest reports.
To rebuke those who would consider his praise for Obama anything but genuine and apolitical, Christie had this to say to Fox News’ Steve Doocy, who asked the Governor if Mitt Romney would join him in surveying the damage: “I have no idea, nor am I the least bit concerned or interested. I’ve got a job to do here in New Jersey that’s much bigger than presidential politics, and I could care less about any of that stuff. I have a job to do. I’ve got 2.4 million people out of power. I’ve got devastation on the shore. I’ve got floods on the northern part of my state. If you think right now I give a damn about presidential politics, then you don’t know me.”
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