Excerpt
SUMMARY: In his year-end news conference, President Obama promised to target terror at home and abroad during his final year in office. But he also made an upbeat assessment, claiming successes on job growth and health care coverage signups, and praising Speaker of the House Paul Ryan for his work crafting the 2016 budget compromise. Judy Woodruff reports.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): Back now to President Obama’s final news conference of 2015. Today’s session in the White House briefing room was a combination year-in-review and year-to-come.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: As I look back on this year, the one thing I see is that so much of our steady, persistent work over the years is paying off for the American people in big, tangible ways.
JUDY WOODRUFF: It was an upbeat assessment from a President soon to enter his final year in office. He claimed a list of successes — among them, job growth and a surge of sign-ups for health care coverage — and he promised more to come.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: For all the very real progress America’s made over the past seven years, we still have some unfinished business. And I plan on doing everything I can with every minute of every day that I have left as President, to deliver on behalf of the American people. Since taking this office, I have never been more optimistic about a year ahead than I am right now. And in 2016, I’m going to leave it out all on the field.
JUDY WOODRUFF: At the same time, Mr. Obama acknowledged the growing challenge of confronting terrorism at home and abroad, after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California.
Even so, he vowed to defeat the Islamic State group.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: And we’re going to do so by systematically squeezing them, cutting off their supply lines, cutting off their financing, taking out their leadership, taking out their forces, taking out their infrastructure.
Now, in order for us to stamp them out thoroughly, we have to eliminate lawless areas in which they cannot still roam. So, we can disable them, we can dismantle much of their infrastructure and greatly reduce the threat that they pose to the United States our allies and our neighbors. Our long term goal has to be to stabilize areas so that they don’t have any safe haven. And in order for us to do that in Syria, there has to be an end to the civil war.
Watch President Obama's year-end news conference, full 50:53
No comments:
Post a Comment