Even New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is a better athlete than the president.
During the president’s tour of the Garden State to check in on the rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Sandy, the two faced off in a friendly game of “TouchDown Fever”— a popular arcade game on the Jersey shore that involves throwing a football through a tire hanging from a string. After Obama failed several times to make the ball through the tire, Christie decided to give it a try – and as luck had it, got the football through the tire on the first try.
Being the gracious host he is, however, the governor gave the president his prize – a teddy bear (appropriately) wearing a Chicago Bears hoodie.
The political odd couple also shared a few special moments high-fiving each other while walking the boards in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.
“That’s because he’s running for office,” Obama told the press.
Speaking later in the day from nearby Asbury Park, N.J., the president told a crowd of hundreds that they “are stronger than the storm” – referring to the state’s $25 million post-Sandy tourism campaign – and that “The Jersey Shore is back and it is open for business.”
“Now, we all understand there’s still a lot of work to be done,” he said. “There are homes to rebuild. There are businesses to reopen. There are landmarks and beaches and boardwalks that aren’t all the way back yet. But thanks to the hard work of an awful lot of people, we’ve got wonderful shops and restaurants and arcades that are opening their doors. And I saw what thousands of Americans saw over Memorial Day Weekend: You are stronger than the storm. After all you’ve dealt with, after all you’ve been through, the Jersey Shore is back and it is open for business, and they want all Americans to know that they’re ready to welcome you here.”
Obama struggled to show off his athletic skills in the public eye earlier this year as well. The president went 2-for-22 in free throws and was even schooled by a 10-year-old during this year’s White House Easter Egg Roll.
Last week while co-hosting NBC’s ‘TODAY,” Christie announced that he would always welcome the president to New Jersey, regardless of the impact it could have on his political career.
“I think what people in my state want more than anything else is for me to do my job,” he told “TODAY” show co-host Matt Lauer.
Christie has received lots of criticism from his fellow Republicans over the past seven months for working so closely with Obama, a Democrat, to help his state recover from Superstorm Sandy. They even went so far as to going so far as to blame him for Obama’s victory the week after Sandy made landfall. Christie was also infamously snubbed from speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference in March over his ties with the president.
