Chris Christie in The New York Times 2010s
On Foreign Policy:
Given who I am, Putin would not have invaded Crimea
A few days after Russian forces invaded Crimea, Gov. Chris Christie was asked at a confidential meeting how he would have handled the situation differently from President Obama.According to an audio recording of the event, he said
Putin had taken the measure of Obama. "I don't believe, given who I am, that he would make the same judgment," Christie said. "Let's leave it at that." One attendee described Christie's answer as disturbingly heavy on swagger and light on substance.
Christie places tremendous value on the personal projection of authority, as evidenced by his suggestion that Putin would think twice about challenging him. "Foreign policy, in my view, is about human relationships," Christie said at an American
Enterprise Institute conference. "Men and women across the world judge each other," Christie said, "and they take a measure of the person based on your actions and your words." With Obama, he said mockingly, "words matter more to him than actions."
Source: N.Y. Times 2014 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Sep 2, 2014
On Free Trade:
Trade mission to Mexico doubles as foreign policy tour
As he weighs a run for the presidency at a moment of spiraling global mayhem, Christie's trip to Mexico this week is taking on a sudden urgency: intended as a trade mission, it will double as a chance to demonstrate a
level of acumen and adroitness on foreign policy that has so far eluded him. The pillars of the Christie worldview, as gleaned from about a dozen speeches and public appearances, tend to rise from a simple observation:
A high-functioning America at home, liberated from partisan dysfunction, exerts greater influence abroad. "What we
say and what we do here at home affects how others see us and in turn affects what it is they say and do," Christie said in 2011.
Source: N.Y. Times 2014 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Sep 2, 2014
On War & Peace:
Syria: If we draw a red line, we must finish the job
Christie expressed confidence that his brand of resolute, no-nonsense foreign policy would have avoided the dilemma the United States faced when Syria deployed chemical weapons against its own
citizens in the civil war. Christie said he would have never drawn a "red line," as Obama did with President Bashar al-Assad, but, "if you do, you better finish the job."
Source: N.Y. Times 2014 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Sep 2, 2014
On Foreign Policy:
America should be clear to world about what we stand for
Christie took pains to explain that it was "irresponsible" for him, a mere governor without access to top-secret briefings, to criticize Mr. Obama's approach to foreign policy (earning warm applause in the process).
Moments later, he seemed to disregard his own mantra, saying: "I do detect some confusion in the world about who we are and what we stand for. That needs to be clear."
Source: NY Times on "NY Region" in 2013, 2016 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2014
On Principles & Values:
Parties should become pragmatic when they are out of power
Christie mocked President Obama for entering office without "a respect for the other party," complained that George W. Bush was "grossly underappreciated" in the White House and seemed to make a novel case for his own, now-blemished candidacy for
president in 2016. The successful presidential campaigns of both Bush and Bill Clinton, Christie said, required displeased skeptics within their own parties to "suck it up and get behind" them.
The party, Christie appeared to argue implicitly, should do the same when it comes to him. "Parties tend to become pragmatic when they are powerless,"
he said. "It's time for us to get pragmatic." Clinton, he said to knowing laughs, "was far from the perfect candidate."
Source: NY Times on "NY Region" in 2013, 2016 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2014
On Technology:
Bridgegate: Staff made some significant mistakes in judgment
Christie seemed determined to reassert himself as a Republican standard-bearer, despite the imbroglio over accusations of political intimidation. After weeks of subdued and somber appearances, at which he spoke of soul-searching and self-flagellation
[over Bridgegate], it was the old Chris Christie who emerged: he boasted of his daughter Bridget's aggression on the basketball court ("it's almost embarrassing").Asked about the bridge controversy, Christie replied that large organizations are
"inherently flawed because they are inhabited by human beings."
"Some people who worked for me made some significant mistakes in judgment," he said, leaving it at that.
Former Gov. Ted Strickland (D, OH) was on hand to ensure that the controversy
was not cast off so tidily, saying he found it hard to swallow the claim that Christie was unaware of his administration's role in the lane closings: "Either the governor knew & he is lying or he is the most inept, incompetent chief executive imaginable.
Source: NY Times on "NY Region" in 2013, 2016 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2014
On Welfare & Poverty:
Focus on income inequality drives America toward mediocrity
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey delivered an unexpectedly blistering broadside on Tuesday against the Democratic Party's growing emphasis on income inequality, warning that the movement would "drive America toward mediocrity" and portraying its
leaders, like Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, as local liberals unlikely to ignite a national cause.Christie pooh-poohed the issue and its champions, Mr. de Blasio and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, predicting that they would never
achieve the level of influence that the Tea Party had exerted in the Republican Party. "I don't think they are affecting the rest of the country all that much," he said.
The problem, he said, is that Americans do not want income equality, suggesting
that it is antithetical to the country's abiding belief in "income opportunity" that rewards hard work and merit. "You want income equality? That is mediocrity," he said. "Everybody can have an equal, mediocre salary."
Source: NY Times on "NY Region" in 2013, 2016 presidential hopefuls
Feb 12, 2014
Page last updated: Dec 02, 2021