WASHINGTON — Mr. Christie went to Washington yesterday — and brought his brutally honest and tough-talking message with him.

Chris Christie, the increasingly popular New Jersey governor, blasted teachers unions, President Obama and his own Republican Party in his first speech on the national stage.

The firebrand governor, who closed New Jersey’s $11 billion budget deficit this year, warned that crushing debt and timid politicians have put the United States “on a path to ruin.”

“I look at what’s happening in Washington right now, and I am worried,” Christie said in the speech at the American Enterprise Institute. “What game is being played down here is irresponsible, and it’s dangerous.”

He said Obama and congressional Republicans are playing a political game of waiting for the other to make the first move on long-term budget problems such as Social Security and Medicare.

“We are going to have to raise the retirement age. Uh, oh. I said it, and I’m still here. I am not vaporized into the carpet,” he said, drawing laughs.

“It’s time to do the big things — the really big things,” he said.

He also called on the entire country to take on teachers unions in a bid to fix the education system.

He said Americans need to tell the unions: “You do not represent the best teachers, far too often you represent the worst” and added that bad teachers with seniority are “crowding out” good teachers.

As he raised his national profile, Christie fervently denied he was considering a presidential run.

“I’m not stupid. I see the opportunity. I see it. That’s not the reason to run,” he said.

smiller@nypost.com

