Be Positive! Revealing The Real Obama And Why Is He Still The President
Be Positive! Revealing The Real Obama And Why Is He Still The President https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT1PBlud8GQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wF_n-gn-Yo ...
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Be Positive! Revealing The Real Obama And Why Is He Still The President - Video
Warning from President Barack Obama to congressional Republicans: I have a veto pen and, come January, I won't be afraid to use it.
Since taking office in 2009, Obama has only vetoed legislation twice, both in fairly minor circumstances. But with Republicans set to take full control of Congress next year, Obama is losing his last bulwark against a barrage of bills he doesn't like: the Senate.
"I haven't used the veto pen very often since I've been in office," Obama said in an NPR interview airing Monday. "Now, I suspect, there are going to be some times where I've got to pull that pen out."
He added: "I'm going to defend gains that we've made in health care. I'm going to defend gains that we've made on environment and clean air and clean water."
Obama's notice to the GOP came as he sought to set the tone for a year in which Congress and the president are on a near-certain collision course. Buoyed by decisive gains in last month's midterm elections, Republicans are itching to use their newfound Senate majority to derail Obama's plans on immigration, climate change and health care, to name a few.
To overturn Obama's veto, Republicans would need the votes of two-thirds of the House and Senate. Their majorities in both chambers are not that large, so they would still need to persuade some Democrats to defy the president.
But Obama said he was hopeful that at least on some issues, that won't be necessary, because there's overlap between his interests and those of congressional Republicans. On that point, at least, he's in agreement with incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
"Bipartisan jobs bills will see the light of day and will make it to the President's desk, and he'll have to make decisions about ideology versus creating jobs for the middle class," McConnell said in response to Obama's comments. "There's a lot we can get done together if the president puts his famous pen to use signing bills rather than vetoing legislation his liberal allies don't like."
Potential areas for cooperation include tax reform and global trade deals ? both issues where Obama and Republicans see at least partially eye to eye. Conversely, the likeliest points of friction surround Environmental Protection Agency regulations, the Keystone XL pipeline and Obama's unilateral steps on immigration, which let millions of people in the U.S. illegally avoid deportation and get work permits.
In the interview, recorded before Obama left Washington earlier this month for his annual Hawaii vacation, Obama also offered his most specific diagnosis to date of why Democrats fared so poorly in the midterms. He said he was "obviously frustrated" with the results.
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Obama Warns GOP He Plans to Use Veto Pen in 2015
Published December 29, 2014
President Obama isn't ruling out the possibility the U.S. could one day reopen an embassy in Iran.
Obama was asked in an NPR interview whether he could envision opening an embassy there during his final two years in office. Obama replied, "I never say never," but said ties must be restored in steps.
Obama says Iran is different from Cuba, where the U.S. plans to open an embassy. He says Cuba is small and poses no major threat to the U.S., while Iran is large, has sponsored terrorism and has sought nuclear capabilities.
Still, Obama says he hopes the U.S. and Iran can reach a nuclear deal so Iran can rejoin the world community. He says he hopes that would lead to improved relations with the U.S.
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Obama doesn't rule out US embassy in Iran
Provided by The Hill Obamas pen and phone barrage
Its been the year of the pen and phone for President Obama.
Obama in January declared his intent to use executive power to enact policy changes without Congress, and he has lived up to his promise, making aggressive moves on climate change, immigration, land protections and the minimum wage.
Obama knew he would have to rely on executive action given Republican control of Congress, and he has raced through 2014 to get as much done as possible.
The pace has only picked up since the midterm elections, with big announcements on immigration, climate change and foreign policy with Cuba.
Hes pushing every executive power to the limit, said Robert Cresanti, executive vice president of government relations at the International Franchise Association.
Heres a look at how Obama used his power in 2014, and where he might be headed.
Immigration
Obama after the midterm elections issued an order protecting about 4.5 million illegal immigrants from deportation.
Obama directed federal agencies not to deport the parents of immigrants who are living legally in the U.S. He also expanded the scope of young immigrants who qualify for such protections.
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Obamas pen and phone barrage
President Obama is ending 2014 in better shape than he probably imagined was possible just a few months ago.
U.S. economic performance brightened and corporate profits soared. Consumer confidence rose, along with financial markets. Seemingly in the swell of the December holidays, the president's moribund job approval numbers floated upward. And millions of people signed up to get or keep health coverage for a second year under Obama's embattled legislative milestone, the Affordable Care Act.
Growth and other data points headed in more optimistic directions, but millions of Americans continue to insist the country remains on the wrong track. Voters in November overwhelmingly swept Democrats out of Congress, legislatures and governorships, and in the process rendered Washington more politically cleaved, if such a thing is even conceivable.
Immigration reform legislation foundered again this year -- a disappointment to Latinos who reacted by encouraging Obama to ignore Congress and extend administrative relief from deportation to as many as 4 million undocumented migrants.
Siding with evolving public sentiment and a younger generation of Cuban-Americans, the president also ducked a resistant legislative branch to normalize U.S. relations with the Castro regime, ending 50 years of Cold War isolation.
It was also a year during which the president, reacting to bruising federal management bungles and bad press, said goodbye to members of his Cabinet, including former Sen. Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon; retired Gen. Eric Shinseki at the Veterans Affairs Department; and former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius at the Department of Health and Human Services. Along the way, Obama jettisoned the first female head of the U.S. Secret Service, Julia Pierson.
In an abrupt about-face over the summer, he reluctantly propelled the nation into what he conceded will be years of bloody battles in Iraq and possibly in Syria, against a terror group that did not exist in its current form when he ran for president. Even the abandoned U.S. "reset" with Russia in 2014, following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, was not as dramatic as the U.S.-led air war against black-clad Islamic State terrorists, who behead their captives with primitive brutality while exploiting today's social media for shock value. The president who campaigned in 2008 to end wars in Iraq and Afghanistan headed in a direction he did not foresee.
At every turn, 2014 felt messy, contentious and, to many people, erratic. In the twilight of Obama's presidency, with his influence ebbing, he was a prominent target for complaints and anxieties, both at home and abroad.
"If I spent too much time worrying about critics, I would be not getting a lot of stuff done here," Obama said last week during an end-of-year interview with CNN's Candy Crowley.
His reference to "getting a lot of stuff done" was a White House rejoinder to voters who said in exit polls last month that they took a broom to Democrats as a way to force executive-legislative compromise. With Obama as president through 2017, many midterm voters said they thought Washington would be more likely to bridge political chasms if Republicans controlled Congress.
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Obama's 2014: Buffeted Yet Buoyed by Late-Year Uptick