Governor Chris Christie (R-N.J.) had some advice for President Obama concerning his new claim concerning what he meant when he told Americans they could keep their health insurance plans if they liked them.
Speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper on The Lead Tuesday, Christie said, “Don’t be so cute…When you make a mistake, admit it.”
JAKE TAPPER, HOST: The President's trying to explain what he meant in 2009 and 2010 when he said if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Obviously that's not entirely true for millions of Americans. It might be a minority but it's still not true.
GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NEW JERSEY): Right.
TAPPER: What advice would you give him?
CHRISTIE: Here's what my suggestion would be to him: don't be so cute. And when you make a mistake, admit it. Listen, if it was a mistake in 2009, if he was mistaken in 2009-2010 on his understanding of how the law would operate, then just admit it to people. “So you know what, I said it, I was wrong. I'm sorry. And we're going to try to fix this and make it better.”
I think people would give any leader in that circumstance a lot of credit for just owning up to it instead of now trying to like, don't lawyer it. People don't like lawyers. I'm a lawyer. They don't like them. You know? And then don't lawyer it. When I saw that this morning, I saw that this morning for the first time, and I thought, “He's lawyering it. That's Barack Obama the lawyer, not the leader.” People want leaders not lawyers.
TAPPER: And so you think he should just, “I misspoke in 2009 or I misunderstood in 2009?”
CHRISTIE: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, listen, I'm assuming that's the case, because it's pretty clear that what he said is not true. And I think if what happened was he had a certain understanding of what the law would do and it turns out he was wrong, just admit you were wrong. I absolutely believe that when you tell people the truth, even if they disagree with it, or you admit you made a mistake, we're a pretty forgiving people in this country. And I think people would say, “Okay, then fix it, Mr. President.” And then he's got to follow through and fix it.
