President Barack Obama and Gov. Chris Christie will visit New Jersey on Tuesday to view recovery efforts from the damage of Hurricane Sandy.
According to the Huffington Post, Republican governor Christie believes the president's appearance is yet another way to showcase his beloved Jersey Shore. The state has a $25 million marketing campaign to let the public know the shore is back in business.
Christie visited the shore throughout the Memorial Day weekend and broke a Guinness world record Friday when he cut a 5.5-mile-long ceremonial ribbon that symbolically tied together some of the towns hardest-hit by Sandy.
Six months later, New Jersey is still in the process of rebuilding. Obama is visiting regions that are among the first to recover. Christie ranked the recovery of the state's famous seaside boardwalks as an eight on a scale of 10. Sandy caused $38 billion in damages in the state, and harmed or wrecked 360,000 homes or apartment units.
Obama's visit will showcase the effectiveness of the Federal Emergency Management system. Obama "will underscore his administration's ongoing commitment to stand with the impacted communities as the important work of recovery continues," the White House said in a statement.
According to the Huffington Post, Obama's trip is an attempt to shed the spotlight off him in Washington, as his speech defending his controversial program of strikes by unmanned drones and renewing his push to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have been causing quite the stir.
Christie is unfazed by those questioning Obama's intentions of the visit, praising the administration and all of its efforts.
"The fact of the matter is, he's the president of the United States, and he wants to come here and see the people of New Jersey," Christie said in an NBC interview. "I'm the governor. I'll be here to welcome him."
