Obama: "We're off to a good start. But it's just a start"

At a press conference marking his 100th day in office, the president looks forward, but also gets ahead of himself on the closing of Guant

Published April 30, 2009 12:15AM (EDT)

President Obama opened up his press conference on Wednesday night, which marks his 100th day in office, by summing up what his administration has accomplished so far, while emphasizing that he still has quite a ways to go.

After going down the list of agenda items that have been achieved thus far, the president said, "I think we're off to a good start. But it's just a start. I'm proud of what we've achieved, but I'm not content. I'm pleased with our progress, but I'm not satisfied ... You can expect an unrelenting, unyielding effort from this administration to strengthen our prosperity and our security. In the second 100 days, in the third 100 days, and all the days after that.

"You can expect us to work on healthcare reform ... as well as energy legislation that will spark a clean energy revolution. I expect to sign legislation by the end of this year that sets new rules of the road for Wall Street, rules that reward drive and innovation as opposed to shortcuts and abuse."

But the president did get ahead of himself on one topic. Discussing foreign policy, Obama said, "We have rejected the false choice between our security and our ideals by closing the detention center at Guantánamo Bay and banning torture without exception."

That's not quite true -- he's moved toward closing the Guantánamo detention facility and has signed an executive order that mandates its closure. But it hasn't been shuttered yet and won't be for some time; in fact, there's still no concrete plan for how the closure will be handled or where the detainees will be moved.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

MORE FROM Alex Koppelman


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