For weeks, public health officials and elected leaders have faced mounting questions about whether they have done enough to stop the spread of Ebola in the United States. But New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has the opposite problem: He's being criticized for going too far.

Christie has faced an intense backlash after imposing strict new quarantine requirements for people traveling to New Jersey who had contact with Ebola patients in West African countries. A nurse who was subjected to isolation despite testing negative for the virus was released Monday after complaints of substandard living conditions and warnings of legal action.

The episode threatens to complicate Christie's political future. As he considers a run for president, the governor is confronting the perception that he is too brash for the nation's top job. The swift and sustained criticism of his Ebola strategy is the latest hurdle he has to clear to overcome those concerns.

Along with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), Christie announced Friday that travelers who had contact with Ebola patients in West African countries battling the disease would be placed under a mandatory 21-day quarantine.

Enter Kaci Hickox, a nurse returning from Sierra Leone Friday who became the first person subject to the new rules in New Jersey. Hickox was placed into quarantine after her arrival at Newark Liberty International Airport. She tested negative for Ebola on Saturday, but was still kept under quarantine.

Hickox was released on Monday -- but only after continuous complaints that received national attention and a threat from her lawyer to sue for her release.

Hickox wrote in the Dallas Morning News that she was "tired, hungry and confused" as she faced questions from authorities and "no one seemed to be in charge." Doctors Without Borders said the tent outside a hospital where she was kept under quarantine was "not heated" and she was "dressed in uncomfortable paper scrubs."

Christie defended the actions he took on Monday.

"I know she didn’t want to be there," Christie said Monday. "No one ever wants to be in the hospital, I suspect. And, so, I understand that. But, the fact is I have a much greater, bigger responsibility to the people of the public. So, I think when she has time to reflect, she’ll understand that, as well."

But the Obama administration voiced concerns about the policies in New York and New Jersey. So did Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Cuomo announced Sunday that he was relaxing his policy, an apparent response to the outcry.

As Christie considers a run for president, the question of how his image as a no-nonsense, shoot-from-the-hip executive will play in the far-flung precincts of Iowa and South Carolina, where politics tends to be less in-your-face than in New Jersey, is increasingly relevant. His Ebola decision thrust both his persona and his policy-making style back into the spotlight.

Christie, who has bluntly confronted constituents at town hall meetings throughout his tenure -- a tendency that has simultaneously brought him praise for speaking his mind and condemnation for doing it perhaps a bit too bluntly -- made another frank assessment when he asserted Saturday that Hickox was "obviously ill."

The governor may come to regret that armchair diagnosis if opponents in the presidential race use it as evidence that he is a bully who thinks he knows better than other people, even when he doesn't.

As for his policies, Christie's move to confront Ebola head on may earn him some plaudits from conservatives who have demanded that the government do more than it has so far to prevent the disease from spreading in the U.S. But they could also hand rivals like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) fodder for attacks suggesting that he did not think through his executive decisions on an important issue enough before he unveiled them.

As ABC News reported, Christie's Twitter feed has been dominated by Ebola-related tweets in recent days. He is leaning into the issue, even as he continues to face heavy criticism over his actions.

Christie said last week that he was "convinced that the next president of the United States is going to be a governor, and it needs to be," a not-so-subtle endorsement of his own profession. Now he needs to convince the public that he has performed exceptionally well in that job. The last few days may not help him make that case.