New Jersey: President Obama tours devastation with Gov. Christie

From MSNBC: President Obama joined Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday to tour the devastation of Hurricane Sandy that annihilated the New Jersey coastline. The image that emerged was one of bipartisan leadership for both politicians—all in the crucial days before the election.

New Jersey bared much of the brunt of the storm’s wrath, leaving an estimated 2.4 million without power.

The president’s photo-op moment with the Republican governor who headlined the party’s convention this year, comes with just under a week until Election Day. Christie, an ardent critic of Obama and supporter of Mitt Romney, said during the convention that the president was the “most ill-prepared person to assume the presidency in my lifetime.”

Christie, however, exchanged his criticisms for acclaim of the president’s leadership in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Known as a brazen and candid politician, the New Jersey governor lauded Obama with praises saying he had to “give the president great credit.”

“He’s been very attentive, and anything that I’ve asked for, he’s gotten to me. So, I thank the president publicly for that. He’s done—as far as I’m concerned—a great job for New Jersey,” Christie said on Morning Joe Tuesday.

As for a Garden State visit from Romney, the current leader of Christie’s party and the man he’s been on the stump with for months, Christie said he is not the “least bit concerned or interested.”

Romney is now campaigning in Florida after holding political event in Ohio disguised as a “storm relief rally.” Since the storm, Romney has avoided any questions pertaining to his stance on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an agency he once vowed to level.

Wednesday marks the third day in Obama’s pause from campaigning in what has been called his “commander-in-chief moment,” showing off his leadership in an empathetic light. A similar photo-op for George W. Bush provided the former president a boost to his 2004 re-election efforts with an image of Bush’s consoling bear hug for the grieving young girl whose mother was killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that was brandished in voters’ minds.