Coming off a week of legislative and court victories that some have termed the best of his presidency, President Obama said Tuesday that he wants to “squeeze every last ounce of progress” from the remainder of his time in office.
“The list is long,” Mr. Obama said of his goals during a joint press conference with the president of Brazil. “What we’re going to do is just keep on hammering away.”
He mentioned increased spending on infrastructure and criminal-justice reform as among the goals he seeks in his remaining 18 months in office.
Some analysts have called the past week Mr. Obama’s best ever, noting that the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare subsidies and legalized same-sex marriage in the states. Congress also approved major trade legislation that is the cornerstone of his second-term agenda.
The president also received positive critiques for his eulogy last week at the funeral for Rev. Clementa Pinckney of Charleston, South Carolina, a victim of the mass church shooting in that city.
Mr. Obama said the legislative and court victories were “simply a culmination of a lot of the work since I came into office.” He said the trade victory was “particularly gratifying” because he believes it will boost the economic status of middle-class families.
Asked if it was his best week, he digressed.
“My best week, I will tell you, was marrying Michelle. That was a very good week,” he said, adding that the weeks in which his daughter were born were also “good weeks.”
He also said it was “pretty cool” to see people celebrating the court’s ruling on same-sex marriage outside the White House, which was bathed in rainbow-colored lights.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.