President Barack Obama at the news conference at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building
NEW YORK: On the afternoon of Dec 22, President Obama held a news conference in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to sum up his Administration’s highs and lows in 2010 and his hopes for 2011.
Here are excerpts from his remarks as well as his responses to reporters’ queries where he describes himself as “persistent” in the face of opposition:
I just wanted to say a few words about the progress that we’ve made on some important issues over these last few weeks.
A lot of folks in this town predicted that after the midterm elections, Washington would be headed for more partisanship and more gridlock. And instead, this has been a season of progress for the American people. That progress is a reflection of the message that voters sent in November — a message that said it’s time to find common ground on challenges facing our country. That’s a message that I will take to heart in the New Year, and I hope my Democratic and Republican friends will do the same.
START Treaty
First of all, I am glad that Democrats and Republicans came together to approve my top national security priority for this session of Congress — the New START treaty. This is the most significant arms control agreement in nearly two decades, and it will make us safer and reduce our nuclear arsenals along with Russia. With this treaty, our inspectors will also be back on the ground at Russian nuclear bases. So we will be able to trust but verify.
We’ll continue to advance our relationship with Russia, which is essential to making progress on a host of challenges — from enforcing strong sanctions on Iran to preventing nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists. And this treaty will enhance our leadership to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and seek the peace of a world without them.
The strong, bipartisan vote in the Senate sends a powerful signal to the world that Republicans and Democrats stand together on behalf of our security. This all speaks to a tradition of bipartisan support for strong American leadership around the world — and that’s a tradition that was reinforced by the fact that the New START treaty won the backing of our military and our allies abroad.
In the last few weeks, we also came together across party lines to pass a package of tax cuts and unemployment insurance that will spur jobs, businesses and growth. This package includes a payroll tax cut that means nearly every American family will get an average tax cut next year of about a thousand dollars delivered in their paychecks. It will make a difference for millions of students and parents and workers and people still looking for work. It’s led economists across the political spectrum to predict that the economy will grow faster than they originally thought next year.
In our ongoing struggle to perfect our union, we also overturned a 17-year-old law and a longstanding injustice by finally ending “don’t ask, don’t tell.” As I said earlier today, this is the right thing to do for our security; it’s the right thing to do, period.
In addition, we came together across party lines to pass a food safety bill — the biggest upgrade of America’s food safety laws since the Great Depression. And I hope the House will soon join the Senate in passing a 9/11 health bill that will help cover the health care costs of police officers, firefighters, rescue workers, and residents who inhaled toxic air near the World Trade Center on that terrible morning and the days that followed.
So I think it’s fair to say that this has been the most productive post-election period we’ve had in decades, and it comes on the heels of the most productive two years that we’ve had in generations.
Disappointments
That doesn’t mean that our business is finished. I am very disappointed Congress wasn’t able to pass the DREAM Act so we can stop punishing kids for the actions of their parents, and allow them to serve in the military or earn an education and contribute their talents to the country where they grew up.
I’m also disappointed we weren’t able to come together around a budget to fund our government over the long term. I expect we’ll have a robust debate about this when we return from the holidays — a debate that will have to answer an increasingly urgent question — and that is how do we cut spending that we don’t need while making investments that we do need — investments in education, research and development, innovation, and the things that are essential to grow our economy over the long run, create jobs, and compete with every other nation in the world. I look forward to hearing from folks on both sides of the aisle about how we can accomplish that goal.
If there’s any lesson to draw from these past few weeks, it’s that we are not doomed to endless gridlock. We’ve shown, in the wake of the November elections, that we have the capacity not only to make progress, but to make progress together.
And I’m not naïve. I know there will be tough fights in the months ahead. But my hope heading into the New Year is that we can continue to heed the message of the American people and hold to a spirit of common purpose in 2011 and beyond. And if we do that, I’m convinced that we will lift up our middle class, we will rebuild our economy, and we will make our contribution to America’s greatness.
Tax cuts
Right after the midterm elections, we took a shellacking. And I take responsibility for that. It’s possible for Democrats and Republicans to have principled disagreements; to have some lengthy arguments but to ultimately find common ground to move the country forward. That’s what we did with taxes. Those arguments have not gone away. I still believe that it doesn’t make sense for us to provide tax cuts to people like myself who don’t need them when our deficit and debts are growing.
The frustration that people felt about that was frustration I share. I don’t think that over the long run we can afford a series of tax breaks for people who are doing very well and don’t need it; were doing well when Bill Clinton was in office. They were still rich then, and they will still be rich if those tax cuts went away.
That’s a debate that’s going to continue into 2011, and I know the Republicans feel just as strongly on the other side of that.
We’re still going to have disagreements in terms of spending priorities. It’s vital for us to make investments in education and research and development — all those things that create an innovative economy — while at the same time cutting those programs that just aren’t working.
Compromise, by definition, means taking some things you don’t like. And the overall package was the right one to ensure that this economy has the best possible chance to grow and create jobs. And if the economy started contracting, as it might have had we not gotten this tax agreement, then the choices that we would have to make would be even tougher.
Economic divide
I think middle-class folks would confirm what the statistics say, which is that they have not seen a real increase in their incomes in a decade, while their costs have skyrocketed. That’s just a fact.
What is also a fact is that people in the top 1 percent, people in the top 1/10th of 1 percent, or 1/100th of 1 percent have a larger share of income and wealth than any time since the 1920s. Those are just facts. That’s not a feeling on the part of Democrats. Those are facts.
Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
I am confident, looking at the history of the military with respect to racial integration, with respect to the inclusion of women in our armed forces, that that could be managed.
And what all the service chiefs have assured me of is that regardless of their concerns about disruptions, they were confident that they could implement this policy without it affecting our military cohesion and good discipline and readiness.
Same sex marriage
With respect to the issue of whether gays and lesbians should be able to get married, my feelings about this are constantly evolving. I struggle with this. I have friends, I have people who work for me, who are in powerful, strong, long-lasting gay or lesbian unions. And they are extraordinary people, and this is something that means a lot to them and they care deeply about.
My baseline is a strong civil union that provides them the protections and the legal rights that married couples have. And I think that’s the right thing to do. But I recognize that from their perspective it is not enough, and I think is something that we’re going to continue to debate and I personally am going to continue to wrestle with going forward.
Guantanamo
Obviously, we haven’t gotten it closed. And let me just step back and explain that the reason for wanting to close Guantanamo was because my number one priority is keeping the American people safe. One of the most powerful tools we have to keep the American people safe is not providing al Qaeda and jihadists recruiting tools for fledgling terrorists.
And Guantanamo is probably the number one recruitment tool that is used by these jihadist organizations. And we see it in the websites that they put up. We see it in the messages that they’re delivering.
Every intelligence report that we’re seeing shows that al Qaeda is more hunkered down than they have been since the original invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, that they have reduced financing capacity, reduced operational capacity. It is much more difficult for their top folks to communicate, and a lot of those top folks can’t communicate because they’re underground now.
Over the last two years, despite not having closed Guantanamo, we’ve been trying to put our battle against terrorists within a legal structure that is consistent with our history of rule of law. And we’ve succeeded on a number of fronts.
One of the toughest problems is what to do with people that we know are dangerous, that have engaged in terrorist activity, are proclaimed enemies of the United States, but because of the manner in which they were originally captured, the circumstances right after 9/11 in which they are interrogated, it becomes difficult to try them whether in an Article III court or in a military commission.
Releasing them at this stage could potentially create greater danger for the American people. Striking this balance between our security and making sure that we are consistent with our values and our Constitution is not an easy task, but ultimately that’s what’s required for practical reasons.
Driving into 2011
I do think that the car is on level ground. I mean, the car is the economy. And I think we are past the crisis point in the economy, but we now have to pivot and focus on jobs and growth. And my singular focus over the next two years is not rescuing the economy from potential disaster, but rather jumpstarting the economy so that we actually start making a dent in the unemployment rate and we are equipping ourselves so that we can compete in the 21st century.
But the answer about who drives — the American people are driving the car. They’re the ones who are going to be making an assessment as to whether we’re putting in place policies that are working for them. And both parties are going to be held accountable and I’m going to be held accountable if we take a wrong turn on that front.
India Post News Service
