Free Republic

In his weekly address released on Saturday, President Barack Obama said that in the remaining two years of his presidency he plans to work with Congress but will take unilateral action when he believes he needs to do so. “I’ll act on my own when it’s necessary,” Obama said. […] “But I will never stop trying to make life better for people like you. Because thanks to your efforts, a new foundation is laid,” said Obama. “A new future is ready to be written. We have set the stage for a new American moment, and I’m going to spend every...

<p>In a year-end conversation with NPR News, President Obama told Morning Edition Host Steve Inskeep that low morale around race relations in the U.S. is exaggerated by the national conversation around recent violence and not an accurate reflection of the state of affairs around the country.</p>

Two top aides to President Obama hailed his “year of action” as a success Monday, saying the president took more than 80 executive actions without Congress to help the middle class. National Economic Council Director Jeffrey Zients and Domestic Policy Council Director Cecilia Munoz said in a blog post that Mr. Obama will try to work the the new Republican Congress next year, but will also “continue to use every authority available to make progress through executive actions” in 2015.

President Obama believes that the United States is less racially divided than when he took office in 2009. Asked in an NPR interview set to air starting Monday whether the nation is more racially divided than six years ago, Obama said "No." "I actually think that it's probably in its day-to-day interactions less racially divided," Obama told "Morning Edition" host Steve Inskeep. Excerpts of the interview were released before broadcast by NPR. A majority of Americans, 53 percent, believe that race relations have worsened under America's first black president, compared to 36 percent who say they have stayed the same...

“No,” the president answered. “I actually think that it’s probably in its day-to-day interactions less racially divided.” Inskeep also asked the president about working with a Congress where both houses are controlled by Republicans. Obama offered a familiar answer. “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.