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Obama Defends Cuban Opening but Faults Sony Over Movie in Year-End News Conference Obama Defends Actions on Cuba and Promises Some Compromise With Congress
(about 4 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday rejected critics who say he should not have opened American relations with Cuba because of that nation’s human rights record, saying the historic thaw would give the United States more sway with the Cuban government. WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday rejected criticism that he should not have reopened American relations with Cuba because of the nation’s human rights record, saying the historic thaw would give the United States more sway over the Cuban government.
“I share the concerns of dissidents there and human rights activists that this is still a regime that represses its people,” Mr. Obama said at a wide-ranging news conference that ended a period of extraordinary domestic and foreign policy changes at the White House. “I share the concerns of dissidents there and human rights activists that this is still a regime that represses its people,” Mr. Obama said at a wide-ranging news conference after a period of extraordinary domestic and foreign policy changes at the White House.
But even as he acknowledged that Cuba might take actions the United States opposes, the president said that “the whole point of normalizing relations is that it gives us a greater opportunity to have influence with that government.” But even as he acknowledged that Cuba might take actions the United States opposes, Mr. Obama said, “The whole point of normalizing relations is that it gives us a greater opportunity to have influence with that government.”
It was the first time that Mr. Obama took questions from reporters since his announcement on Wednesday that he would move toward normalizing relations with Cuba, establish an embassy in Havana and relax trade and financial restrictions that have been in place for nearly a half-century. “Change is going to come to Cuba,” he said. “It has to.”
The president also scolded Sony Pictures for pulling back the movie “The Interview” after a cyber attack that his administration is blaming on North Korea. It was the first time Mr. Obama had taken questions from reporters since his announcement on Wednesday that he would move to normalize relations with Cuba, establishing an embassy in Havana and relaxing trade and financial restrictions that have been in place for a half-century.
“I think they made a mistake,” the president said. “I wish they would have spoken to me first. I would have told them, ‘Do not get into a pattern where you are intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks.’ ” He also scolded Sony Pictures for pulling back the movie “The Interview” after a cyberattack for which the White House is blaming North Korea. “I think they made a mistake,” he said.
Confirming that North Korea perpetrated the attack, Mr. Obama vowed retaliatory action. As in previous years, the president used his annual late-December news conference to make the case that his policies had helped the economy and burnished the United States’ reputation around the world. “We’ve set the stage for this American moment,” he said, “and I’m going to spend every minute of my last two years making sure that we seize it.”
“They caused a lot of damage, and we will respond,” the president said. “We will respond proportionally, and we’ll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose.” Mr. Obama was upbeat in the nearly hourlong exchange with reporters, his last public event before departing Friday for a vacation with his family in Hawaii.
Overall, the president used his annual late December news conference to make the case that he has brought about an American economic resurgence, burnished American leadership credentials around the world and given hope for a new phase of compromise with the Republican Congress. He said he had shown that he could tackle steep challenges, including the fight against the Islamic State militant group, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and a mass migration of unaccompanied minors from Central America across the border.
“We’ve set the stage for this American moment, and I’m going to spend every minute of my last two years making sure that we seize it,” he said. Mr. Obama vowed to seek compromise with Republicans in Congress where possible, such as on a tax overhaul and rebuilding infrastructure, but pledged to veto efforts to roll back his health care law and financial regulations.
On Cuba, Mr. Obama said he had no plans to visit the island in the near term. But he recounted a friendly telephone call this week with President Raul Castro of Cuba. Mr. Obama said the two joked with each other about being long-winded and about Fidel Castro. He also indicated that he had no intention of pulling back on his executive measures to circumvent Congress, which he has used in recent weeks to take sweeping unilateral action on immigration, re-establish diplomatic and commercial ties with Cuba and strike a climate agreement with China.
After Mr. Obama apologized for speaking for so long during the call, he said, Mr. Castro told him: “You’re still a young man, and you have still the chance to break Fidel’s record: He once spoke for seven hours straight.” “I intend to continue to do what I’ve been doing,” he said, “which is where I see a big problem and the opportunity to help the American people, and it is within my lawful authority to provide that help, I’m going to do it.”
The president’s remarks came as he faced questions about how his administration would respond to the North Korean cyber attack and manage the historic opening with Cuba, as well as an array of other foreign and domestic challenges. Still, the president acknowledged that he would have to work with Congress on contentious issues, including lifting the 54-year-old American trade embargo against Cuba. “We cannot unilaterally bring down the embargo,” he said, although his administration is undertaking a major effort to loosen key elements.
The news conference ends 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. “Ultimately, we need to go ahead and pull down the embargo, which I think has been self-defeating in advancing the aims that we’re interested in,” he said. “But I don’t anticipate that that happens right away.”
Mr. Obama suggested he had no intention of backing down on that approach. While he said he had no plans to visit Cuba in the near term, he recounted friendly moments during a telephone call this week with President Raúl Castro. He said the two had joked about being long-winded and about Fidel Castro, Raúl’s brother.
“My presidency’s entering the fourth quarter,” he added. “Interesting stuff happens in the fourth quarter, and I’m looking forward to it.” After Mr. Obama apologized for speaking for so long during the call, he said, Mr. Castro told him, “You’re still a young man, and you have still the chance to break Fidel’s record: He once spoke seven hours straight.”
Mr. Obama told reporters that he was genuinely eager to forge compromises with the Republican Congress, including on revamping the nation’s tax system, and said he would push for changes that make it simpler and fairer. He said he had been encouraged by conversations with some Republican leaders. Then, Mr. Obama added, the Cuban president proceeded to speak for twice as long as he had.
Closer to home, Mr. Obama told reporters he was eager to compromise with the new Republican-controlled Congress, including on revamping the nation’s tax system, which he said he would push to make simpler and fairer.
“I want to work with this new Congress to get things done,” the president said. “We’re going to disagree on some things, but there are going to be areas of agreement, and we’ve got to be able to make that happen, and that’s going to involve compromise once in a while.”“I want to work with this new Congress to get things done,” the president said. “We’re going to disagree on some things, but there are going to be areas of agreement, and we’ve got to be able to make that happen, and that’s going to involve compromise once in a while.”
He said the lame-duck session of Congress that closed this week showed that “perhaps that spirit of compromise may be coming to the fore.” Mr. Obama said he would push to change rules that allow “corporate inversions,” when American companies move their headquarters “on paper” to another country in order to avoid taxes.
Mr. Obama said he would push for changes to rules that allowed companies that are in the United States to move their headquarters “on paper” to another country in order to avoid taxes. He reminded Republicans that they would also have to consider his priorities. “In order for their initiatives to become law, I’m going to have to sign off,” he said, “and that means they have to take into account the issues that I care about, just as I’m going to take into account the issues that they care about.”
“I think that needs to be fixed,” he said. Mr. Obama refused to say what he would do if Congress tried to force his hand on approving the Keystone XL pipeline, saying only, “I’ll see what they do.”
After the news conference, Mr. Obama was scheduled to leave for his annual family trip to Hawaii. But he played down the advantages of the pipeline and said he wanted to make sure it would not accelerate climate change.
“There’s been this tendency to really hype this thing as some magic formula to what ails the U.S. economy, and it’s hard to see on paper where exactly they’re getting that information,” he said.
Mr. Obama said he would seek to carry out quickly the recommendations of a task force he named this week on law enforcement and race relations, some of them by executive order and some by legislation.
The public conversation set off by the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers in places like Ferguson, Mo., and Staten Island is healthy, he said, adding that he was willing to take on big problems.
“My presidency is entering the fourth quarter,” Mr. Obama said. “Interesting stuff happens in the fourth quarter, and I’m looking forward to it.”