Christie on Iran deal: Obama too obsessed with his own legacy

Presidential hopeful says American people need to save Obama from himself.

By REUTERS
Updated: AUGUST 25, 2015 21:54
Christie on Iran deal: Obama too obsessed with his own legacy‏
Republican presidential hopeful and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie called for the US Congress to reject President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran on Tuesday.
Christie is seeking the Republican Party nomination for the November 2016 election.
Speaking alongside local Jewish leaders, Christie said, "If this were in a novel, you would never believe that an American president would willingly agree to this type of arrangement, and worse yet, have the audacity to look the American people in the eye and tell them it's the best deal we could get. The president should be honest with American people. This they'd believe. It's the best he can do. It's not the best that America can do and that's why the Congress should reject it."
Congress, where majority Republicans overwhelmingly oppose the deal, is expected to reject the pact next month. But Obama will still be able to save the agreement if he can deny opponents in either house the two-thirds majority needed to override his expected veto.
On one side of the lobbying effort are progressive groups who back Obama's view that the deal is the best chance to avoid another Middle East war. On the other side, with a larger war chest, are many Jewish-American groups that say the deal has dangerous loopholes and fear it will empower Iran and ultimately leave Israel vulnerable to nuclear attack.
Speaking about Iran, Christie said, "We cannot permit a treacherous, murderous, deceitful regime to posses the most dangerous weapons the world has ever invented. To me that's not anything other than common sense. The President got himself in too deep here. Too obsessed with his own legacy and the American people need to save him from himself."
The US-led international agreement reached in July would put new limits on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting crippling economic sanctions on the country.