We all knew that at some point, Chris Christie was going to start making noise about his presidential aspirations. Who knew that his first issue would be to play the "I'm not a scientist" card in relation to vaccinating your kids.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
“I understand that there are families that, in some cases, are concerned about the effect of vaccinations,” Obama said. “The science is, you know, pretty indisputable. We’ve looked at this again and again. There is every reason to get vaccinated, but there aren’t reasons to not.”
Christie, however, said “there has to be a balance and it depends on what the vaccine is, what the disease type is, and all the rest.” He added, “Not every vaccine is created equal and not every disease type is as great a public health threat as others.”
Christie also took the unusual step of criticizing the president on foreign soil, saying Obama had been a poor negotiator, specifically regarding the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
Christie immediately moved to examples of President Obama as a poor negotiator. In a quick switch from dealing with vaccines to discussing foreign issues, the pace made at least myself immediately think "How do you negotiate with a virus?" Still, Christie was discussing foreign policy by that point, but his content didn't get any better as the references to the situation put up all the wrong mental pictures.
“We were comparing notes pretty feverishly back in 2011,” Christie said. “So I hope that part of what we’ll do today is compare notes on progress as well and I think that the prime minister has led some really great progress economically here, especially when you compare it to the rest of Europe.”
It was difficult to imagine a way in which the New Jersey governor could have a public break with the president over health and foreign policy that would include more off-chord rhetorical volleys.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Mr. Christie did not offer any such urgency or firmness.
Doctors warn that up to 1,000 people may have been exposed to measles in recent weeks, a risk linked to parents who, against the advice of the medical profession, refuse to vaccinate their children for a variety of reasons.
Mr. Christie spoke during an impromptu news conference in front of a facility for MedImmune, an American company that makes a nasal flu vaccine, called FluMist. Inside, Mr. Christie donned a lab coat and protective plastic goggles.
Nothing says leadership material like a refusal to commit on, well, anything with 'firmness'. The desire to not offend anyone and to hopefully show himself as open minded has a problem - there is a tipping point between open minded and empty headed.
7:57 AM PT: Update
A spokesman for Chris Christie clarified the governor’s comments on vaccines. “To be clear: The Governor believes vaccines are an important public health protection and with a disease like measles there is no question kids should be vaccinated. At the same time different states require different degrees of vaccination, which is why he was calling for balance in which ones government should mandate,” he said.
-MSNBC