“I think as people look at his record and then imagine him debating Obama, Obama is going to laugh at him,” Gingrich said on “GMA.” “We have to look at what kind of a choice do we want for the country.”

Gingrich also attempted to draw a contrast of his time in Congress from that of his colleague, Rick Santorum. The former congressman has taken issue with Gingrich’s characterization of him as a “junior partner” in the Republican revolution of the 1990s. He, in turn, has charged the former speaker of sitting on the sidelines.

“That’s pretty hard for the speaker of the House to sit on the sidelines,” Gingrich responded laughingly. “Rick and I are going to be competitors. That’s fine. We’ve had different tracks of getting here. I like him. We have different records.”