Obama talks about Iran; healthcare

President Obama at a WH presser: AP: Ron Edmunds

In a White House press conference today, President Barack Obama answered questions ranging from his newly inked tobacco bill to the violence in Iran.

After disturbing video surfaced of a young woman by the name of “Neda” dying on the streets of Iran and video of home invasions began to surface on youtube and CNN, the President received sharp criticism from journalists and Senators for his response to Iran.

In his presser today, Obama addressed his concern about Iran and why the U.S. must stay its course with its plan for Iran.

“Right after the election I said that we had profound concerns about the nature of the election, but that it was not up to us to determine what the outcome was.”

Despite recent developments of violence in Iran, President Obama left the door open for diplomacy with the troubled nation.

“There is a peaceful path ... to legitimacy," Obama said, and "we hope they take it.”

The President released a statement on the violence in Iran a few days ago and also said that he was “heartbroken” by the images and video coming out of the politically torn country.

Moving on to healthcare, Obama spoke about the possibilities of adding a public healthcare option to compete with private insurers.

Over the past few weeks the debate about healthcare has heated up on Capital Hill with Democrats drafting two pieces of legislation to tackle reform. However, Republicans are against the option of having a government plan because of fear that it would drive private health insurance providers out of business.

President Obama states that his concern about healthcare is primarily the nearly 50 million Americans without coverage and the rising costs and strain that it’s placing on the American economy.

Though Obama has a Democratic majority in both the Senate and House, he does not have the majority of Democrats on his side. The Administration has to be prepared for a fight on healthcare and also give way to some of the promises Obama made during the campaign.

Another subject touched on in the presser was the rising rate of job loss in America as the latest unemployment numbers suggest that unemployment will rise above 10%.

When Obama first took office, he stated that his stimulus package would keep unemployment numbers at 8%. He now acknowledges that that number is likely to creep past 10%.

He defended his previous pronouncement, stating that no one at the time knew of the true condition of the economy.

-JH

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