New Jersey Governor and Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie visited Manchester on Wednesday to answer audience questions at the Americans for Peace, Prosperity and Security Forum.
Addressing a packed room of supporters, students and veterans, Christie’s blunt and joking manner won him a mostly positive response. The governor promises coordinated strategy on foreign relations where he thinks President Obama has employed a so-called “one-off” tactical approach.
When asked how he would handle ISIS, for example, Christie outlined steps to encourage other nations in their efforts – including providing weaponry and training from the ground up. Though he reserves it as an option, he doesn’t advocate for U.S. boots leading the fight on the ground.
The Egyptians, the Jordanians, the Emirates and the Saudis feel as if ISIS is an existential threat to their nations. They want to bring the fight to ISIS. This is their neighborhood; I think we need to give them the opportunity to clean up their neighborhood.
Criticizing what he calls the “chest beating” of some foreign policy proposals, Christie described his positions as comparatively tempered and dynamic. Do not misinterpret, he cautioned his audience, what a president can and cannot do.
