President Barack Obama and a Republican who may try to succeed him shared a quick “bro hug” and about 90 seconds of private conversation when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie welcomed Obama to the state today.
Obama visited Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to offer holiday greetings to the U.S. military personnel there. Before he arrived at the podium inside a hangar, Obama met Christie on the tarmac next to Air Force One.
“This sort of illustrates that, this time of year, that it’s pretty easy to be bipartisan when talking about supporting men and women in uniform and their families,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters aboard the flight from Washington. “If it’s not easy, it should be.”
Obama in his speech recalled traveling to the New Jersey shore last year and playing games on the boardwalk with Christie, a year after it was hit by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
“I will get a rematch at some point,” he said about being beaten in carnival games by the Christie family. “We came because, after Hurricane Sandy, people here in New Jersey including here at this base had to pick themselves up and rebuild.”
Politically, Obama and Christie have clashed including over whether to build a tunnel into New York from New Jersey and on whether to allow the Keystone pipeline to be built in the U.S. Yet the pair has an outwardly gregarious relationship. Unlike some Republican governors, Christie didn’t come bearing a letter or public request when Obama touched down in his state.
No word yet on the topic of their their tarmac conversation.
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