(Bloomberg Politics) — President Barack Obama addressed the new Congress, Democrats' future, and overseas turmoil in an NPR interview published Monday, saying vetoes may lie ahead as Republicans take over the Senate for his final two years in office.
"There are going to be some areas where we disagree and, you know, I haven't used the veto pen very often since I've been in office," Obama said, according to a transcript. "Now I suspect there are going to be some times where I've got to pull that pen out, and 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 said immigration was an area where his differences with some Republicans are too great to overcome. Asked by "Morning Edition" host Steve Inskeep whether he could work with Republicans whom he considers "captive to nativist elements of the party," Obama said, "Well, on immigration, I probably can't. [Iowa Representative] Steve King and I fundamentally disagree on immigration.
Recommended For You
But, Obama said, other Republicans recognize the need for comprehensive immigration reform—and he could stand to improve his relationships on the Hill. "I can always do better in every aspect of my job, and congressional relations isn't exempt from that," he said.
In an excerpt of the Dec. 18 interview released earlier, Obama said that despite recent tensions between police and minorities, the U.S. is "probably in its day-to-day interactions less racially divided."
After Democrats' losses in the November midterm elections, Obama said the party should be assuring "white working-class voters who haven't seen enough progress economically in their own lives" that it has their interests in mind.
"The jobs that are out there are not ones that are traditionally jobs that, you know, blue-collar men aspire to," Obama said. "And, you know, we've got to speak to those concerns."
On foreign affairs, Obama contrasted Cuba, whose relations with the United States he recently moved to normalize, and Iran, where he was asked whether the United States might open an embassy in his last two years.
"I never say never, but I think these things have to go in steps," he said. "You know, Cuba is a circumstance in which for 50 years, we have done the same thing over and over again and there hadn't been any change. And the question was, should we try something different with a relatively tiny country that doesn't pose any significant threat to us or our allies?"
On Russia, he said, perceptions of President Vladimir Putin are changing as oil prices fall.
"You'll recall that three or four months ago, everybody in Washington was convinced that President Putin was a genius … and today, you know, I'd sense that at least outside of Russia, maybe some people are thinking what Putin did [in Ukraine] wasn't so smart."
"They rely on oil," he said. "We rely on oil and iPads and movies and you name it."
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
