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Christie calls Obama a ‘weakling’ on foreign policy

by Jesse Byrnes - 10/12/15 9:24 AM ET

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie ripped President Obama over foreign policy on Monday, calling him a “weakling.”

“He thinks if you do nothing you can’t get in trouble,” Christie said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

{mosads}The New Jersey governor discussed his own approach to Syria if he were president, saying he would enforce a no-fly zone with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“He’s punching above his weight, Joe,” Christie told host Joe Scarborough, referring to Putin amid Russia’s military intervention in Syria.

“And this weakling in the White House … who got pushed around last night, by the way, by Steve Kroft. We saw that — I mean, pushed around,” Christie said.

Christie was referring to Obama’s interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” where the president suggested Russia’s intervention in Syria wasn’t “an indication of strength.”

“If you think that running your economy into the ground and having to send troops in, in order to prop up your only ally, is leadership, then we’ve got a different definition of leadership,” Obama said during the interview, referring to Russia.

“My definition of leadership would be leading on climate change, an international accord that potentially we’ll get in Paris. My definition of leadership is mobilizing the entire world to make sure that Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon,” Obama added.

Tags Barack Obama Barack Obama foreign policy Chris Christie Syria Vladimir Putin