That we seize it. My presidency is entering the Fourth Quarter. Interesting stuff happens in the Fourth Quarter. And im looking forward to it. Going into the Fourth Quarter, you usually get a timeout. Im now looking forward to a quiet timeout. Christmas with my family. I want to wish everybody a measure wrimerry christmas, a happy hanukkah, a happy new year. I hope that all of you get time to spend with your families as well because one thing that we share is that were away too much from them. And now, josh has given me the whos been naughty and whos been nice list and im going to take some questions. Reporter thank you, mr. President. Starting with north korea since
that seems to be the biggest topic today, what does a proportional response look like to the sony hack . And did sony make the right decision in pulling the movie or does that set a dangerous precedent . Let me address the second question first. Sony is a corporation. It suffered significant damage. There were threats against its employees. Im sympathetic to the concerns that they faced. Having said all that, yes, i think they made a mistake. In this interconnected digital world, there are going to be opportunities for hackers to engage in cyberassaults both in the private sector and the
Public Sector. Now, our first order of business is making sure that we do everything to harden sites and prevent those kind of attacks from taking place. When i came into office, i set up a cybersecurity Interagency Team to look at everything that we could do at the government level to prevent these kind of attacks. Weve been coordinating with the private sector but a lot more needs to be done. Were not even close to where we need to be. And one of the things in the new year that i Hope Congress is prepared to work with us on is strong Cybersecurity Laws that allow for Information Sharing across private sector platforms as well as the Public Sector so that we are incorporating Best Practices and preventing these attacks from happening in the first place. But even as we get better, the hackers are going to get better
too. Some of them are going to be state actors. Some are going to be nonstate actors. All of them are going to be sophisticated and many of them can do some damage. We cannot have a society in which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here in the United States. Because if somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a movie, imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary that they dont like or news reports that they dont like. Or even worse, imagine if producers and distributors and others start engaging in selfcensorship because they dont want to offend the
sensibilities of somebodys sensibilities who probably need to be offended. So thats not who we are. Thats not what america is about. Again, im sympathetic that sony as a private company was worried about liabilities and this and that and the other. I wish they had spoken to me first. I would have told them do not get into a pattern in which youre intimidated by these kind of criminal attacks. Imagine if instead of it being a cyberthreat, somebody had broken into their offices and destroyed a bunch of computers and stolen
disks. Is that what it takes for you to suddenly pull the plug on something . So well engage with not just the Film Industry but the News Industry and the private sector around these issues. We already have. Well continue to do so. I think all of us have to anticipate occasionally there are going to be breaches like this. Theyre going to be costly. Theyre going to be serious. We take them with the utmost seriousness but we cant start changing our patterns of behavior anymore than we stop going to a Football Game because there might be the possibility of a terrorist attack. Anymore than boston didnt run its marathon this year because of the possibility that somebody might try to cause harm. Lets not get into that way of
doing business. Reporter would you consider taking some sort of symbolic step like watching the movie yourself . I have a long list of movies im going to be watching. Reporter will this be one of them . I never release my full movie list. Lets talk of the specifics of what we now know. The fbi announced today and we can confirm that north korea engaged in this attack. It says something interest about north korea that they decided to have the state mount an allout assault on a movie studio because of a movie starring seth rogen and james flacco. I love seth. I love james. But the notion that that was a threat to them i think gives you some sense of the kind of regime were talking about here. They caused a lot of damage, and we will respond. We will respond proportionately and well respond in a place and time and manner that we choose. Its not something that i will announce here today at a press conference. More broadly, this points to the need for us to work with the International Community to start setting up some very clear rules of the road in terms of how the internet and cyber operates. Right now its sort of The Wild West and part of the problem is you have weak states that can engage in these kind of attacks. You have nonstate actors that
can do enormous damage. Thats part of what makes this issue of cybersecurity so urgent. Again, this is part of the reason why its going to be so important for congress to work with us and get an actual bill passed that allows for the kind of Information Sharing we need because if we dont put in place the kind of architecture that can prevent these attacks from taking place, this is not just going to be affecting movies. This is going to be affecting our entire economy in ways that are extraordinarily significant. By the way, i hear youre moving to europe. Where are you going to be . Brussels. Helping politico start a new publication. Congratulations. I think theres no doubt that what belgium needs is a version of politico. [ laughter ] the waffles are delicious by the way. Sheryl, you have been naughty. Go ahead. Reporter thank you, mr. President. Looking ahead to your work with Congress Next year, you mentioned as an area of possible compromise tax reform and so im wondering, do you see a Republican Congress as presenting a better opportunity for actually getting tax reform next year . Will you be putting out a new proposal . Are you willing to consider both individual and corporate side of the tax ledger there. Also, are you still concerned about corporate inversions . I think an all Democratic Congress would have provided an even better opportunity for tax reform, but i think talking to
Speaker Boehner and leader mcconnell, that they are serious about wanting to get some things done. The tax area is one area where we can get things done. And i think in the coming weeks leading up to the state of the union, there will be some conversations at the staff levels about what principles each side are looking at. I can tell you broadly what i would like to see. I would like to see more simplicity in the system. I would like to see more fairness in the system. With respect to the Corporate Tax reform issue, we know that there are companies that are paying the full freight, 35 , higher than just about any other company on earth if you are paying 35 . And then there are other companies that are paying zero because theyve got better accounts or lawyers. Thats not fair. There are companies Parking Money outside the country
because of tax avoidance. We think its important that everybody pays something if in fact they are effectively headquartered in the United States. In terms of corporate inversion, those are situations where companies are headquartered here but on paper switched their headquarters to see if they can avoid paying their fair share of taxes. I think that needs to be fixed. So fairness, everybody paying their fair share, everybody taking responsibility. I think its going to be very important. Some of those principles i heard republicans say they share. How we do that, the devil is in the details. Ill be interested in seeing what they want to move forward. Im going to make sure that we put forward specific proposals building on what we already put
forward. One other element of this thats important is ive been on this hobby horse now for six years. Weve got a lot of infrastructure weve got to rebuild in this country if were going to be competitive. Roads, bridges, ports, airports. Electrical grids. Water systems. Sewage systems. We are way behind. And early on we indicated that there is a way of us potentially doing Corporate Tax reform, lowering rates, eliminating loopholes so everybody is paying their fair share and during that transition also providing a mechanism where we can get some infrastructure built. I would like to see us work on that issue as well historically obviously infrastructure has not been a democratic or republican issue, and i would like to see if i can return to that
tradition. Julie pace . Reporter thank you, mr. President. I wanted to ask about cuba. What would you say to dissidents or democracy advocates inside cuba who Say Policy Changes could give castro regime benefits without addressing the human rights or political system. When you lifted sanctions on miramar, you sought reform. If i could follow up on north korea, do you have any indication that north korea was working in conjunction with another country, perhaps china . We have no indication that north korea was working in conjunction with another country. With respect to cuba, we are glad that the cuban government has released slightly over 50 dissidents, that theyre going to be allowing the International Community red cross and United NationsHuman Rights Agencies to operate more freely inside of cuba and monitor what is taking
place. I share the concerns of dissidents there and Human Rights Activists that this is still a regime that represses it people. As i said when i make the announcement, i dont anticipate overnight changes. What i know deep in my bones is that you have done the same thing for 50 years and nothing has changed, you should try Something Different if you want a different outcome. And this gives us an opportunity for a different outcome. Suddenly cuba is open to the world in ways it has not been opened before. Its open to americans traveling there in ways that it hasnt been before. Its open to Church Groups visiting their fellow believers
inside of cuba in ways they havent been before. It offers the prospects of telecommunications and the internet being more widely available in cuba in ways that it hasnt been before. And over time, that chips away at this society. I believe offers the best prospect then of leading to greater freedom, greater selfdetermination on the part of the cuban people. I think it will happen in fits and starts. But through endpajment, we have a better chance of bringing about change than we would have otherwise. Do you have a goal of where you see cuba being at the end of your presidency . It would be unrealistic for me to map out exactly where cuba will be. But change is going to come to
cuba. It has to. Theyve got an economy that doesnt work. Theyve been reliant for years on subsidies from the soviet union and then on subsidies from venezuela. Those cant be sustained. And the more the cuban people see whats possible, the more interested they are going to be in change. Its country specific and culturally specific. It could happen fast. It could happen slower than i would like. Its going to happen and this change in policy is going to advance that. Leslie clark . Reporter i have a number of questions as well. Do i have to write all these down . How many are they . Reporter as quick as i can. I want to see if you have any assurances from the cuban government that it would not
revert to the same sort of sabotage as it has in the past when president president s have made similar overtures to the government. Be specifically. What do you mean . Reporter when the Clinton Administration made overture, they shot down planes and have this pattern of doing provocative just general provocative activity. Reporter any time the u. S. Reached out a hand to them and whats your knowledge of whether fidel castro had any role in the talks and when you spoke to raul castro, did Fidel Castros name come up, have you asked about him . How is he doing . People havent seen him in a while. And given deep opposition from republicans in congress to lifting the embargo to embassy to any changes that youre doing, are you going to personally get involved in terms of talking to them about efforts
they want to do to block money on a new embassy . Leslie, i think im going to cut you off here. This is taking up a lot of time. All right. So with respect to sabotage, my understanding of the history of the plane being shot down, its not clear that was the cuban government purposely trying to undermine overtures by the Clinton Administration. It was a tragic circumstance that ended up collapsing talks that had begun to take place. I havent seen an historical record that suggests they shot the plane down specifically in order to undermine overtures by the clinton government. I think it is not precedented for the president of the united
states and president of cuba to make an announcement at the same time that they are moving toward normalizing relations. There hasnt been anything like this in the past. That doesnt mean that over the next two years we cant anticipate them taking certain actions that we may end up finding deeply troubling. Either inside of cuba or with respect to their foreign policy. And that could put significant strains on the relationship. But thats true of a lot of countries out there where we have an embassy and the whole part of normalizing relations is that it gives us a greater opportunity to have influence with that government and not. So i would be surprised if the
cuban government purposely tries to undermine what is now effectively its own policy. I wouldnt be surprised if they take at any given time actions that we think are a problem, and we will be in a position to respond to whatever actions they take the same way we do with a whole range of countries Around The World when we do things they think are wrong but the point is that well be in a better position to actually have some influence. They may be carrots and sticks that we can then apply. The only way that fidels name came up, i think i may have mentioned this in the interview i did, i delivered a fairly lengthy statement at the front end about how were looking
forward to a new future in the relationship between our two countries but that we are going to continue to press on issues of democracy and human rights which we think are important. And my opening remarks took about 15 minutes, which on the phone is a pretty long time. At the end of that, he said, mr. President , youre still a young man. Perhaps you have the at the end of my remarks i apologized for taking such a long time, but i wanted to be sure before we engaged in the conversation that he was very clear about where i stood. He said dont worry about it, mr. President. Youre still a young man and you still have a chance to break fidels record. He once spoke seven hours straight. And then president castro proceeded to deliver his own
preliminary remarks that lasted at least twice as long as mine. And then i was able to say obviously it runs in the family. That was the only discussion of fidel castro that we had. I sort of forgot all of the others. Reporter i have a few more. How personally involved are you going to get with respect to congress, we cannot unilaterally bring down the embargo. Thats codified in the act. What i do think is going to happen, theres going to be a process where congress digests it. Theyre bipartisan supporters of our new approach. They are bipartisan detractors of this new approach. People will see how the actions we take unfold i think there will be a healthy debate inside
of congress. I will weigh in. I think ultimately we need to go ahead and pull down the embargo which has been selfdefeating in advancing the aims that were interested in. I dont anticipate that happens right away. People will want to see how does this move forward before theres any serious debate about whether or not we would make major shifts in the embargo. All right. Reporter under what conditions would you meet with president castro in havana . Would you have preconditions you would want to see and on the hack, i know you said youre not going to announce your response but can you say whether you are considering additional economic sanctions on north korea . Can you rule out the use of Military Force or some kind of cyberhit of your own . I think im going to leave it where i left it, which is we just confirmed it was north korea. We have been working a range of options. Theyve been presented to me. Ill make a decision on those based on what i feel is proportional and appropriate to the nature of this crime. With respect to cuba, were not at a stage here where me visiting cuba or president castro coming to the United States is in the cards. I dont know how this relationship will develop over the next several years. Im a fairly young man. I imagine at some point in my life ill have an opportunity to visit cuba and enjoy interacting with the cuban people. Theres Nothing Specific where were trying to target some sort of visit on my part. Colleen Mccain Nelson . Reporter you spoke earlier about 2014 being a breakthrough year and you ended a year with Executive Actions on cuba and immigration and climate change. You didnt make much progress this year on your legislative agenda and some republican lawmakers have said they are less inclined to work with you if you pursue Executive Action so aggressively. Are you going to continue to pursue Executive Actions if that creates more road blocks for your legislative agenda or have you concluded its not possible to break the fever in washington and the partisan gridlock here. I think there are real opportunities to get things done in congress. As i said before, i take Speaker Boehner and Mitch Mcconnell at their words that they want to get things done. I think the American People would like to see us get some
things done. The question is going to be are we able to separate out those areas where we disagree and those areas where we agree. There are tough fights on areas where we disagree. If republicans seek to take healthcare away from people who just got it, they will meet stiff resistance from me. If they try to water down Consumer Protections that we put in place in the aftermath of the financial crisis, i will say no, and im confident ill be able to uphold vetoes of those types of it provisions. On increasing american exports and simplifying our tax system and rebuilding our infrastructure, my hope is that we can get some things done. Ive never been persuaded by
this argument that if it werent for the Executive Actions, they would have been more productive. Theres no evidence of that. So i intend to continue to do what ive been doing, 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, im going to do it. And i will then side by side reach out to members of congress and Reach Out To Republicans and say lets work together. I rather do it wou. Immigration is the classic example. I was really happy when the Senate Passed a bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill, and i did everything i could for a year and a half to provide republicans the space to act and showed not only great patience but flexibility saying to them,
look, if there are specific changes you would like to see, were willing to compromise. Were willing to be patient. Were willing to work with you. Ultimately it wasnt forthcoming. So the question is going to be, i think, if Executive Actions on areas like minimum wage or equal pay or having a more sensible Immigration System are important to republicans and they care about those issues and the Executive Actions are bothering them, theres a very simple solution and thats pass bills and work with me to make sure im willing to sign those bills. Because both sides are going to have to compromise. On most issues in order for their initiatives to become law, im going to have to signoff and that means they have to take into account the issues that i
care about just as im going have to take into account the issues that they care about. All right. I think this is going to be our last question. Reporter thanks so much. One of the first bills that Mitch Mcconnell said hell send to you is one that would authorize construction of the keystone excel pipeline. I wonder if you could tell us what you would do when you receive that bill and also what you see as benefits and given the drop in oil prices recently, does that change the calculus and whether it makes sense to go ahead with that project . I dont think ive minimized the benefits. I think ive described the benefits. At issue in keystone is not
american oil it is canadian oil that is drawn out of tar sands in canada. That Oil Current Ly is being shipped out through rail or trucks and it would save Canadian Oil Companies and the Canadian Oil Industry an enormous amount of money if they could simply pipe it all of the way through the United States down to the gulf. Once that oil gets to the gulf, it is then entering into the world market and it would be sold All Around The World so theres no i wont say no. Theres very little impact,
nominal impact on u. S. Gas prices, what the average American Consumer cares about, by having this pipeline come through. Sometimes the way this gets sold is lets get this oil and its going to come here and the implication is that its going to lower gas prices here in the United States. Its not. Theres a global oil market. Its very good for Canadian Oil Companies, and its good for the Canadian Oil Industry, but its not going to be a huge benefit to u. S. Consumers. Its not even going to be a nominal benefit to u. S. Consumers. Now, the construction of the pipeline itself will create probably a couple thousand jobs. Those are temporary jobs until the construction actually hams. Theres probably some additional jobs that can be created in the
refining process down in the gulf. Those arent completely insignificant. Its just like any other project. When you consider what we could be doing if we were rebuilding roads and bridges around the country, something that congress could authorize, we could probably create hundreds of thousands of jobs or a million jobs. If thats the argument, there are a lot more direct ways to create well paying American Construction jobs. And then with respect to the costs, all ive said is i want to make sure that if in fact this project goes forward, that its not adding to the problem of climate change, which i think is very serious and does impose serious costs on the American People. Some of them longterm but
significant costs nonetheless if we have more flooding, more wildfires, more drought, direct Economic Impacts on that and as were rebuilding after sandy for example, were having to consider how do we increase preparedness in how we structure infrastructure and housing and so forth along the jersey shore. Thats an example of the kind of costs that are imposed and you can put a Dollar Figure on them. In terms of process, you have a nebraska judge determining whether or not the new path for this pipeline is appropriate. Once that is resolved, the State Department will have all of the information it needs to make its decision. Ive just tried to give this perspective because i think that theres been this tendency to
hype this thing as some Magic Formula to what ails the u. S. Economy and its hard to see on paper where exactly theyre getting that information from. In terms of oil prices and how it impacts the decision, i think that it wont have a Significant Impact except perhaps in the minds of folks when gas prices were lower maybe and less susceptible to the argument that this is the answer to lowering gas prices. It was never going to be the answer to lowering gas prices because the oil that would be piped through the Keystone Pipeline would go into the world market and thats what determines oil prices. In terms of congress forcing their hand on this, is this something where you say youre not going to let Congress Force your hand on whether to approve or disapprove this bill. Well see what they do. Well take that up in the new year. Reporter any new years
resolutions . April, go ahead. Go ahead. Reporter thank you, mr. President. Last question i guess. Six years ago this month, i asked you what was the state of black america in the oval office and you said it was the best of times and the worst of times. You said it was the best of times in the sense that there has never been more opportunity for africanamericans who have received a good education and the worst of times for unemployment and the lack of opportunity. Ending 2014, what is the state of black america as we talk about those issues and Race Relations in this country . Like the rest of america, black america in the the aggreg is better than when i came into office. The Housing Equity thats been
recovered. 401 pensions that have been recovered. A lot of folks are africanamerican. They are better off than they were. The gap between income and wealth of white and black america persists. We have more work to do on that front. This is a legacy of a troubled racial past. Its not an excuse for black folks. They are out there trying to get an education sending their kids to college but they are starting behind often times in the race. And whats true for all americans is we should be willing to provide people a hand up and not a handout. Help folks get that good Early Childhood education. Help them graduate from high school. Help them afford college. If they do, theyll be able to succeed and thats good for all of us. Weve seen some progress. The education reforms that weve initiated are showing measurable results. We have the highest High School Graduation that weve seen in a very long time. We are seeing Record Numbers of young people attending college. In many states that initiated reforms you see progress in math scores and Reading Scores for africanamerican and latino students as well as the broader population. But weve still got more work to go. Now, obviously how were thinking about Race Relations right now has been colored by ferguson, the garner case in new
york, a growing awareness in the broader population of what many communities of color have understood for some time and that is there are specific instances at least where Law Enforcement doesnt feel as if its being applied in a color blind fashion. The task force that i formed was supposed to report back to me in 90 days not with a bunch of abstract musings about Race Relations but concrete practical things that Police Departments and Law Enforcement agencies can begin implementing right now to rebuild trust between communities of color and the
Police Department. And my intention is to as soon as i get those recommendations, to start implementing. Some of them well do through Executive Action. Some will require congressional action. Some will require action on the part of states and local jurisdictions. But i actually think its been a healthy conversation that weve had. These are not new phenomenon. The fact that they are now surfacing in part because people are able to film what have just been in the past stories passed on along a Kitchen Table allows people to make their own assessments and evaluations and youre not going to solve the problem if its not being talked about. In the meantime, we have been moving forward on criminal Justice Reform issues more broadly. One of the things i didnt talk about in my Opening Statement is the fact that last year was the first time in 40 years where we had the federal prison population go down and the crime
rate go down at the same time, which indicates the degree to which its possible to think smarter about who were incarcerating and how long were incarcerating and now are we dealing with nonviolent offenders and how are we dealing with drug offenses, diversion programs, drug courts. We can do a better job and save money in the process by initiating some of these reforms and ive been pleased to see that weve had republicans and democrats in congress who are interested in these issues as well. The one thing i will say, and this is going to be the last thing i say, is that one of the great things about this job is you get to know the American People. You meet folks from every walk of life and every region of the country and every race and every
faith and what i dont think is always captured in our political debates is the vast majority of people are just trying to do the right thing. And people are basically good and have good intentions. Sometimes our institutions and our systems dont work as well as they should. Sometimes youve got a Police Department that has gotten into bad habits over a period of time and hasnt maybe surfaced hidden biases that we all carry around. If you offer practical solutions, people want to fix these problems. Its not a situation where people feel good seeing somebody choked and dying. I think that troubles everybody. So theres an opportunity of all of us to come together and to take a practical approach to these problems. And i guess thats my general theme for the end of the year, which is weve gone through difficult times. It is your job, press corps, to report on all of the mistakes that are made and all of the bad things that happen and the crises that look like they are popping and i understand that. But through persistent effort and faith in the American People, things get better. The economy has gotten better. Our ability to generate clean energy has gotten better. We know more about how to educate our kids. We solve problems. Ebola is a real crisis. You get a mistake in the first case because its not something thats been seen before. We fix it. You have some Unaccompanied Children Who Spike at a border and it may not get fixed in the time frame of the news cycle, but it gets fixed. And part of what i hope as we reflect on the new year, this should generate some confidence. America knows how to solve problems. And when we work together, we cant be stopped. And now im going to go on vacation. Thank you, everybody. The president of the United States at a News Conference a yearend News Conference. Hes off to hawaii tonight with his family for a little r r. A little vacation. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and Around The World. Im wolf blitzer reporting from washington. The big headline, the president of the United States saying Sony Pictures made a mistake in canceling the release of the film the interview. A film about north korea, the north Korean Leader kim jongun. I want to play the clip. Here is the sound bite from the president saying Sony Pictures made a mistake. Sony is a corporation. It suffered significant damage. There were threats against its employees. I am sympathetic to the concerns that they faced. Having said all that, yes, i think they made a mistake. We cannot have a society in
which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here in the United States because if somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a movie, imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary that they dont like or news reports that they dont like. Or even worse, imagine if producers and distributors and others start engaging in selfcensorship because they dont want to offend the sensibilities of somebody whose sensibilities probably need to be offended. The president also saying he wishes Sony Pictures had discussed the issue with them before they decided to pull the
release of this film. He also said north korea was responsible echoing what the fbi said earlier in the day that north korea deliberately did this. He promised the u. S. Would respond but he refused to say how the u. S. Will respond. He said only it would be proportionate and the u. S. Will respond in his words when we choose to do so. Hes not going to release that information in advance. Jake tapper, strong words from the president. He surprised a lot of us by going as far as he did. I thought he would be more cautious and talk about how he knew where sony was coming from as a business. He gave a sweeping statement about free speech and not giving in to threats from people like kim jongun especially when it came to a comedy film and then he started talking about the precedent it set. What happens if they dont like
documentaries . What happens if they dont like news . Where does it go from there . It was very strong profree Speech Statement from the president and youre right. Im very surprised. Evan perez, you have new information. Youre learning right now, youre our justice reporter, about the fbi and how they came up with this decision that it was in fact north korea no doubt about that. Reporter there was no doubt, wolf. I have to tell you one thing real quick. What the president just said echoes what im hearing from u. S. Law enforcement intelligence officials. They are outraged. They understand sony did what they did but they are outraged that a dictator won censoring the american Movie Industry as a result of this hack, wolf. The fbi pretty quickly thought they knew where this hack was coming from and they said that they they say that there was some telltale signs despite that north korean hackers did a very
good job to try to mask where this was coming from. They tried to route the attacks through several countries in asia and europe and even latin america. In the end, what the fbi found was telltale signs and lines of code, Encryption Cal Algorithmst show where it came from matching an earlier attack from last year that was carried out against south korean banks and Media Companies and so this is one way they were able to very quickly this is unprecedented for them to make a determination so quickly and go public with this. The president also said that there is no indication any other countries were working together with north korea. He said he has seen nothing along those lines. This was a north korean operation. Gloria borger, you know, the president almost seemed
liberated, if you will, to go out and speak cannopenly about many issues. He didnt want to engage. He said when we respond it will be proportional at a time and place of our choosing. I wont raise their profile anymore than it already has been raised over a comedy satire. I cant remember the last time i saw the president so cheerful other than when we won reelection actually. He went out of his way to say im energized and excited and this is the Fourth Quarter and great things will happen in the Fourth Quarter. A lot of interesting stuff happens in the Fourth Quarter, which it often does. He was clearly sending a message to the American People as weve been talking about before he had his press conference. They may call me a lame duck, but im going to keep quacking here. This is not over by any stretch. I think he is boyd by what happened over the last several years. What will the United States do to retaliate against north korea . No question the president is setting out an unyielding position. Well decide how to respond and it will be on our own time and had a dismissive comment for the north Korean Leader. It tells but the tells you about the regime if they are upset over this movie. He had a message to the American People saying we as a country have to respond to this dismiss it, go on, go to the movie theaters, et cetera. Despite that, north korea because of this hack rocketed to the top of the National Discussion even in a year 2014 when we have all of these other
grave international challenges. He only had brief mentions of ukraine and russia. Ebola. The fight against isis. Weve got two ground wars in asia still going on. Afghanistan and iraq big commitments of u. S. Troops there. Not a single question about those issues. And consider all of the stories and discussion we were doing on that earlier this year. He only took seven or eight questions. All from print reporters. Really typical style, he gave lengthy answers. He tends to do that. Something else thats interesting that i suspect a lot of republicans in congress are paying attention to is the fact that he basically issued veto threats. He said if republicans in Congress Bring me bills that weaken wall street reform legislation, hell veto it. He also while not saying he was going to veto the keystone
pipeline legislation that republicans in the senate said would be the first order of business, he made the case for vetoing it saying it will have only a nominal effect on u. S. Gas prices. This will benefit Canadian Oil Companies but not really have an effect on the United States. He didnt say ill veto it but he laid out the case for doing so. Let me bring in jay carney. Jay, did you get the same sense that hes laying out the case to veto that Keystone Pipeline legislation because republicans clearly want to put it on the table very, very quickly in the new session. Woflf, i know hes ambivalen about it. In many ways both sides of this argument have turned it into a much bigger issue than it factually is. Keystone if its built will not create the number of jobs that proponents claim it will. Nor will rejecting it save the Global Environment the way some
environmentalists claim it will because tar sands will be exploited regardless if the pipeline is built. I think hes been of two minds of this and its hard to predict where he will go. Its true that some of the senators, democratic senators, who would have been most vulnerable if he vetoed it will no longer be in the senate so that may give him more political leverage. I tell you, i think gloria said earlier talking about how upbeat he was and buoyant he was. I was there as Press Secretary for three end of the year Press Conferences and this one was quite different. What was going on at the end of the year. No fiscal crisis. No international crisis. At least not yet knock on wood. He does clearly feel in the wake of the Midterm Election that hes been able to demonstrate that hes relevant and that he can execute and get things done and he feels good about it. Lets get some reaction from a different perspective. Cliff may is joining us,
president of the foundation for defense of democracy. On north korea specifically, cliff, what did you think of what he said . I was glad that he said that a dictator shouldnt be imposing censorship on the United States or on the free world. I dont think its sonys battle to fight primarily. I think its our battle. He said that there will be a response. Less so he assured north korea that it would be proportionate and that it would not be beyond that because there needs to be some deterrent. Cyberwarfare is a dangerous thing. In this case it was used to shut down a movie and there were terrorist threats and cyberwarfare could shut down our entire society. Were not where we should be on cyberwarfare and there has to be a very strong response to such an attempt. This was on a company in the u. S. But its really an attack on american freedom. In the past, we in the u. S. And in the west have not responded effectively to attempts to
shutdown free expression. Imagine if there had been Nuclear Weapons. His successor may have Nuclear Weapons and that was a subject not at all discussed and i think its the most Important NationalSecurity Threat we face today. Let me get bobby into this conversation. Another big issue that came up, cuba. The president pleased with Whats Going On in this improved u. S. cuban relationship although he played down this notion he was about to fly off to havana any time soon. He seemed to suggest it was much more likely he would return to being a private citizen than during his presidency, which is probably wise. It would be pretty bad optics for the president to go to cuba or have raul castro over to the white house. Raul castro is not welcome to
the grand halls of the world and major War Leaders Dont Go To Havana because everyone recognizes he is as the president said, a dictator. Repressive regime. Makes sense to get rid of an embargo that doesnt work. It was very interesting. The president started by invoking the cuban people rather than the cuban government. I think that was the key point. Its not the regime. Its people to people relations. Hes hoping that just by allowing that to happen, the u. S. Will have greater leverage, greater say in cubas activities in the future. Thats bank shot. Its better than no shot. Thats a good point. If he goes to cuba, he would like to engage with the cuban people. Doug brinkley, how did he do in this end of year News Conference . Who would have thought on Midterm Election day, he would sell this was a great year 2014 in america and it was a great
year for him and its all about the economy. You can almost feel how optimistic the president is in. He feels the country is moving in the right direction. Dwight eisenhower with the great Missile Gap Crisis in 1957 ended up creating nasa. I think this situation with north korea although Newt Gingrich calls it a war, it may be a cyberbattle with north korea, he may need to create Cybersecurity Agency or something. I think he would get bipartisan support. Not that people want to see more government on the right, but we have to address this. I think something important and significant that well have to watch. Im writing on fdr. Im writing about public works projects. This is a president that is not green lighting keystone. I dont know how other ways you could tell him. You dont talk down your product
and say, okay, im going to do it. Lets get a thought from dana bash. Im sure members of congress, democrats and republicans watching very closely. How is what the president said today likely to play with them . First of all, hes somebody who a lot of members of congress are looking at saying who is this guy and where has he been for the last six years . Hes somebody as everyone mentioned in various ways who feels free to say what he wants and do what he wants. On what doug was just talking about, we should note thats the very first legislative battle in january in just a couple weeks. The new Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell said hell do it right out of the gate. If the president is going to use his veto pen and leaning into do that, it will probably be the first thing that well see. The other thing i just think thats worth noting, it may seem to our viewers to be naval gazing from reporters, he not only talk to print reporters, he
only asked women for questions. He only called on female reporters. Thats very telling for a white house that has gotten a lot of flak, maybe as they should have, for the women inside the white house not rising to the top and not having a seat at the table. The fact that he ended this year only calling on female reporters was no accident. Let me ask jay carney, former White House Press secretary, our cnn political commentator now, was that just coincidental or deliberate . What do you think . Im sure it was deliberate. Im sure it was discussed beforehand among the president s advisers. I think it was an excellent decision to make. There are a lot of superb female reporters that cover the white house every day. I think it was a fun way and smart way to end the year by calling on only female reporters. As a former Print Journalist even though im on tv now, i like to see Print Journalist get