New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he wasn’t ready to be president in 2012 — but that he feels ready now.
“The only way you’re going to perform well is if you believe in your heart that you’re ready to be president. And I didn’t. And so there was no way I would have won in 2012. I wouldn’t have, because I wasn’t ready,” Mr. Christie told Yahoo News.
Mr. Christie also said he could wait until June to make a final decision on a 2016 run.
“What’s happening, exactly, that would make me want to go faster?” he said.
In the interview, he also shrugged off recent polling on the prospective 2016 GOP field; he’s currently eighth in the latest RealClearPolitics average.
“A year ago it was different,” he said. “Three years ago it was different. You know, it changes, and people don’t really know who is going to be in the race, or how those people are going to perform once they’re in it. So that stuff will change, I guarantee you. It will change overnight.”
He has a flurry of events scheduled for this week in New Hampshire, including two town hall meetings as part of what his political action committee is calling the “Tell It Like It Is” Town Hall Series.
He’s scheduled to kick off the trip to the early presidential state by talking entitlement reform Tuesday morning at Saint Anselm College in Manchester.
“I think if you go to someone who’s getting 200,000 in retirement income and say to them, ’Hey, you’re not going to get your monthly Social Security check,’ it’s not going to markedly change their lifestyle,” said Mr. Christie, who has fought for pension reforms in his home state. “I think the grandmothers and grandfathers of this country care about the lives their grandchildren are going to have. And they want these programs to exist for their grandchildren.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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