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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.

Originally posted here:
Obama's 2014: Buffeted Yet Buoyed by Late-Year Uptick

Published December 28, 2014

FILE: Dec. 19, 2014: President Obama speaks during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, in Washington, D.C.(AP)

President Obama says that race relations in the U.S. have improved during his six years in the White House, amid recent racial tensions sparked by the deaths of two black males during separate police encounters.

I actually think that it's probably in its day-to-day interactions less racially divided," said the president, according to excerpts of an interview with National Public Radio to be aired starting Monday.

Obama also told the radio network that Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress when members return next week means they can no longer blame the gridlock on him and fellow Democrats who formally controlled the Senate.

Now you've got Republicans in a position where it's not enough for them simply to grind the wheels of Congress to a halt and then blame me," he said.

Obama suggested in the aftermath of the shooting of Michael Brown -- an unarmed black teen who was killed by a white police officer in August in Ferguson, Missouri -- that race relations in America have improved in the past 40 or 50 years.

"We have made enormous progress in race relations over the course of the last several decades, Obama said in late November after a grand jury decided not to indict Officer Darren Wilson. I have witnessed that in my own life and to deny that progress, I think, is to deny Americas capacity for change.

A new Gallup poll shows Americans' perception of race relations essential unchanged since 2002, with roughly 66 percent of black respondents saying relations are good, compared to 72 percent for non-Hispanic whites.

Obama also told NPR, in the year-end interview with Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep, that low morale around race relations in the U.S. is exaggerated by the national conversation about the recent violence and not an accurate reflection of the state of affairs around the country.

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Obama: America 'less racially divided' since 2009

President Obama marked the end of Americas longest-ever war Sunday by praising Americans who died in the post-9/11 mission in Afghanistan and trumpeting his efforts to bring troops home, even as he committed to leaving a limited military presence to hand over the bulk of the fight against the Taliban to Afghan forces.

For more than 13 years, ever since nearly 3,000 innocent lives were taken from us on 9/11, our nation has been at war in Afghanistan, Mr. Obama said in a statement released by the White House. Now, thanks to the extraordinary sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, our combat mission in Afghanistan is ending, and the longest war in American history is coming to a responsible conclusion.

His remarks coincided with a ceremony in the Afghan capital of Kabul to mark the official end of the mission. In front of a small, hand-picked audience at the headquarters of the NATO mission, the green-and-white flag of the International Security Assistance Force was ceremonially rolled up and sheathed, and the flag of the new international mission called Resolute Support was hoisted.

SEE ALSO: Obama to mark end of combat mission in Afghanistan despite warning signs

U.S. Gen. John Campbell, commander of ISAF, commemorated the 3,500 international soldiers killed on Afghan battlefields and praised the countrys army for giving him confidence that they are able to take on the fight alone.

Resolute Support will serve as the bedrock of an enduring partnership between NATO and Afghanistan, Gen. Campbell told an audience of Afghan and international military officers and officials, as well as diplomats and journalists.

The road before us remains challenging, but we will triumph, he added.

Beginning Jan. 1, the new mission will provide training and support for Afghanistans military, with the U.S. accounting for almost 11,000 of the 13,500 members of the residual force.

On Sunday, the Pentagon said the U.S. segment of the mission would be known as Operation Freedoms Sentinel.

Our personnel will continue to face risks, but this reflects the enduring commitment of the United States to the Afghan people and to a united, secure and sovereign Afghanistan that is never again used as a source of attacks against our nation, Mr. Obama said.

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Obama marks end of Afghan mission as 'milestone'