President Barack Obama hopes the United States will still be able to bridge a growing partisan divide as he confronts a whole host of foreign and domestic crises that have only grown since he entered the White House. At a news conference Wednesday night to mark his 100th day, which serves as a kind of report-card anniversary for new administrations, Obama voiced surprise at the number of challenges that had converged on the United States since he began running for the presidency more than two years ago.
Obama entered office in January facing ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a devastating global economic crisis and threats of a nuclear-armed Iran and North Korea. Challenges that have since been added to his list include the growing threat from Somali pirates and a looming swine flu pandemic.
Obama said he was "gravely concerned" about the stability of Pakistan's government, which is battling Taliban insurgents that have crept to within 100 kilometres of the capital Islamabad. He also pushed for more political reconciliation in Iraq amid an uptick in violence over the last few weeks. Domestically, the president said he still expected far-reaching reforms of health care and financial regulation to be approved by Congress before the end of the year.
"I am surprised ... by the number of critical issues that appear to be coming to a head all at the same time," Obama said. "The typical president, I think, has two or three big problems. We've got seven or eight big problems." While Obama declared himself happy with his early efforts to stabilise the US economy, which has dominated the young administration, he warned of more struggles ahead before the 16- month-long recession comes to an end.
"I am pleased with our progress but I am not satisfied," Obama told reporters. "Millions of Americans are still without jobs and homes, and more will be lost before this recession is over." Obama asked for "patience" from the public on the economy and reiterated his long-running theme that the country had to build a "new foundation for growth" in the coming years that was less reliant on debt and lax regulations of financial institutions.
Obama also touted his attempt to reshape US foreign policy, including reopening diplomatic channels with US enemies, and said the country would be safer in the long run by banning tough interrogation practices that could be considered torture. His decision earlier this month to release past legal memos that sanctioned the use of tough interrogation techniques has set off a furious debate between allies of Obama and those of former president George W Bush.
"I will do whatever is required to keep the American people safe," he said. "I am absolutely convinced that the best way I can do that is by not taking short cuts that undermine who we are." Having been elected on a promise to "change" the culture of Washington, Obama voiced some frustrations over the country's intense partisan divide, which may even have grown since he took office.
While Obama's overall public ratings have remained above 60 per cent, a poll by the Pew Research Centre earlier this month found Obama to be the most polarising president in modern US history, with a 61-point gap opening up between Republicans and Democrats on his job approval.
Many of Obama's early policy successes have been approved along strictly party lines, including the 787-billion-dollar economic stimulus package passed less than a month into his term. Obama insisted his outreach efforts to Republicans had been "genuine" and promised to continue working with the opposition in the coming year. But he also chastised Congress for a high-degree of politicking despite the serious foreign and domestic challenges facing the country.
"There is still a certain quotient of political posturing and bickering that takes place even when we're in the middle of really big crises," Obama said. The Obama administration passes the 100-day mark amid some mixed signs about the state of the US economy. Government figures Wednesday showed the US economy shrank 6.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year, though the Federal Reserve touted signs that the outlook had "improved modestly" over the past few weeks.
Obama promised an "unyielding effort" to revive the economy and said he expected broader, far-reaching reforms on how Wall Street is regulated to be adopted by the end of the year. "Even as we clear away the wreckage of this recession ... we can't go back to an economy that is built on a pile of sand," he said. The global economy has largely been brought down by excessive risks taken in financial sectors, especially in the US housing market that began folding in mid-2006.
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