Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WASHINGTON (AP) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is a "failure" and predicts it "will not succeed _ it just won't."
The potential 2016 presidential candidate says the leaders of both political parties, including Obama, are to blame for a 16-day partial federal government shutdown in October. He says the effort by some Republicans to defund the so-called Obamacare law by shutting down the government failed and "absolutists" from both parties hurt the process.
But Christie avoided addressing a question on how to fix the law, saying it was a complex issue that required a robust debate.
Christie was interviewed Monday during a forum sponsored by The Wall Street Journal. He is scheduled to take over the chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association later this week.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
