New York: Beyond the domination of NSA surveillance scandal and criticism of handling of healthcare reforms in the press conference in year end, US President Barack Obama had declined the suggestions that 2013 had been his worst period as president.
In the briefing room of White House, US President said, “That’s not how I think about it.” “We have had ups and downs; this room has recorded at least 15 near-death experiences. What I focus on each day is, are we moving the ball on the American people, families, to have a little more opportunity, a little more security … to feel as though they’re moving ahead.”
Obama said that the rollout of healthcare exchanges at the heart of Affordable Care Act has been the biggest mistake of him.
Obama also said, “The fact is, it didn’t happen in the first month- the first six weeks- in a way that was acceptable,” “We screwed up.”
White House also claimed that approx 500,000 Americans signed up to new insurance in the first three weeks of December.
However, Obama had defended the decision to suspend penalties for uninsured people, who get failed to get policies due to the problem with online exchanges. He said the administration just wanted to make sure that the hardship provision that is in the law applied to people having trouble in this transition.
“A lot of our legislative initiatives in Congress have not moved forward as we’d like,” he said. “It’s too early to declare an outbreak of bipartisanship but we are not condemned to endless gridlock.”
He also predicted that improving economic conditions would help unlock progress on a host of issues from unemployment to income inequality.
Obama said, “I believe 2014 will be a breakthrough year for America.” “We head into next year with an economy that’s stronger than it was when we started the year. More Americans are finding work and experiencing the pride of a paycheck.”
Obama said, “My polls have gone up and down at lot. If I was interested in polling I would not have run for president.”
Bureau Report
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