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Obama News Conference Caps a Busy Period Obama Notes U.S. Resurgence in Year-End News Conference
(35 minutes later)
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday will face questions about how his administration plans to respond to a North Korean cyberattack and manage a historic opening with Cuba, holding a year-end news conference that will cap a period of wide-ranging challenges at the White House. WASHINGTON — President Obama defended his economic, health care and foreign policies on Friday, declaring in a year-end news conference that he has brought about a new American resurgence and is energized about his final two years in office.
The question-and-answer session, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Eastern time in the briefing room, is the first time Mr. Obama will face reporters at the White House since Nov. 5, the day after the Democratic Party suffered staggering losses in the midterm elections. “We are better positioned than we have been in a very long time,” Mr. Obama said in a wide-ranging year-end question-and-answer session that ended a period of extraordinary domestic and foreign policy changes at the White House.
It comes after an extraordinary six-week period for Mr. Obama in which he has aggressively used his presidential power to take sweeping unilateral action on immigration, re-establish diplomatic and commercial ties with Cuba, strike a climate agreement with China and press for strong Internet neutrality rules. Mr. Obama also said Sony Pictures erred by deciding not to release “The Interview” movie after hackers threatened violence if the movie about an assassination of the North Korean leaders was released.
The news conference will also be Mr. Obama’s first chance to comment publicly on the cyberattack on Sony Pictures computers, just as his administration declares its belief that North Korea was responsible and releases new information on the hacking. “Yes, I think they made a mistake,” he said. “I wish they would have spoken to me first. I would have told them, ‘Do not get into a patter where you are intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks.'”
The president is also confronting questions about how he will work with the new Republican Congress that convenes in January, with his political foes on Capitol Hill bent on thwarting key elements of his agenda, including the immigration initiative and the implementation of health care and financial protection laws. The president’s remarks came as he faces questions about how his administration will respond to the North Korean cyber attack and manage a historic opening with Cuba, as well as an array of other foreign and domestic challenges.
The news conference comes after a six-week period when Mr. Obama aggressively used his presidential powers to take sweeping unilateral action on immigration, re-establish diplomatic and commercial ties with Cuba, strike a climate agreement with China and press for strong rules on keeping the Internet free and open.
Mr. Obama suggested he has no intention of backing down on that approach.
“My presidency’s entering the fourth quarter,” he added. “Interesting stuff happens in the fourth quarter, and I’m looking forward to it.”
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The president is also likely to confront questions about how he will work with the new Republican Congress that convenes in January. His political foes on Capitol Hill are bent on thwarting key elements of his agenda, including the immigration initiative and the implementation of health care and financial protection laws.
Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, issued his formal invitation on Friday for Mr. Obama to deliver the annual State of the Union address on Jan. 20.Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, issued his formal invitation on Friday for Mr. Obama to deliver the annual State of the Union address on Jan. 20.
Mr. Obama will meet with reporters just a few hours before his scheduled departure for his annual family trip to Hawaii. After the news conference, Mr. Obama plans to leave for his annual family trip to Hawaii.