Obama: 'History will bear' him out, or not

by Mark Silva

President Barack Obama, "very close'' to a decision about deploying troops in Afghanistan - a strategy that must provide for an "endgame'' as well as a way forward - maintains that he is "absolutely confident'' about getting a health-care bill, calls the planned trial of 9/11 plotters in New York criminal court perfectly suitable and says he hasn't begun to even think about running in 2012 yet.

But he acknowledges the "political turbulence'' and the toll that "taking on things that are unpopular'' could take on his own prospects for reelection.

"if I feel like I've made the very best decisions for the American people and three years from now I look at it, and my, you know, poll numbers are in the tank because we've gone through these wrenching changes, you know, politically I'm in a tough spot, I'll feel all right about myself,'' he said. "I'd feel a lot worse, if at a time of such urgency for the American people I was spending a lot of time thinking about how I could position myself to ensure reelection.

"Because if I were doing that right now, I wouldn't have taken on health care, I wouldn't be taking on things that are unpopular,'' the president said. "I wouldn't be closing Guantanamo. There are a whole series of choices that I'm making that I know are going to create some political turbulence. But I think they're the right thing to do, and history will bear out my theories or not.''

The president said all this in an interview with CNN conducted in China as part of a round robin of interviews with cable news networks - CNN and FOX News alike - and the broadcast networks.

"We are very close to a decision,'' Obama said of his prolonged deliberation over deploying additional troops to Afghanistan. " I will announce that decision certainly in the next several weeks... ''

The president is weighing several considerations:

"We do have a vital interest in making sure that al Qaeda cannot attack us and that they can't use Afghanistan as a safe haven,'' he said. " We have a vital interest in making sure that Afghanistan is sufficiently stable that they can't infect the entire region with violent extremism...

"I am very confident that when I announce the decision, the American people will have a lot of clarity about what we're doing, how we're going to succeed, how much this thing is going to cost, what kind of burden does this places on our young men and women in uniform, '' the president said, "and most importantly, what's the end game on this thing, which is something that, unless you impose that kind of discipline, could lead to a multi-year occupation.''

After more than eight years of war in Afghanistan, Obama was asked if he wants to see American troops come home from Afghanistan before the end of his presidency. "My preference would be not to hand off anything to the next president,'' he said. " One of the things I'd like is the next president to be able to come in and say, 'I've got a clean slate...'

The president maintained that Att'y Gen. Eric Holder had made the call about trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and several accomplices held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, accused in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in criminal court in New York, but allowed that he will be held accountable for it.

"I said to the attorney general, 'Make a decision based on the law,''' said Obama, noting that military commissions have been improved and are available for trial. "But I also have great confidence in our Article III courts, the courts that have tried hundreds of terrorist suspects who are imprisoned right now in the United States... This notion that somehow we have to be fearful that these terrorists possess some special powers that prevent us from presenting evidence against them, locking them up, and exact swift justice, I think that has been a fundamental mistake.''

But if something goes wrong, he allowed, he will be the one responsible for the decision.

"I always have to take responsibility,'' Obama said. "That's my job.''

As the Senate prepares to test its ability to take a health-care vote to the floor, following narrow passage of health-care legislation in the House, the president suggests that the process has been slowed by the time it takes for the Congressional Budget Office to gauge the potential costs and benefits of all the bills. CNN's Ed Henry asked why he doesn't do "like LBJ,'' and just grab everyone by the lapels.

"LBJ didn't have the Congressional Budget Office,'' Obama said, noting that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has been ready with a Senate bill for weeks. "It has taken this long for the Congressional Budget Office to present its best estimates of how much this is going to cost, how many savings will be obtained...

"I remain confident that we are going to get this done, and we are going to have a bill that reduces our deficit, bends the cost curve, covers millions of people who don't have health insurance right now and for people who do have health insurance makes their insurance more secure,'' the president said. " I am absolutely confident we are going to get that done.''

The president acknowledges public frustration with the pace of the economic recovery at home.

"The American people have gone through a very tough year,'' he said, "and my job, as president, is to help navigate through this tough year. People who don't have a job right now, people who have lost their home, I'd be mad, too, and they expect me to do something about it....''

At the close of the president's current foreign trip, which will take him from China to South Korea, he will have visited 20 nations, CNN's Henry noted, the most of any president during his first year.

"No. 1, I think that we've restored America's standing in the world,'' Obama said, citing polls about public confidence in the United States around the world.

"We've seen very specific areas of cooperation around the nuclear issue,'' he said. "At the time of my inauguration, the world community was still divided on what Iran's intentions were... We mobilized the international community... You now have validators like the International Atomic Energy Agency, you've got the P-5 plus one, which includes Russia and China, all saying to Iran, you're on the wrong side of history here.''

"There is no doubt that, in the same way that on domestic policy our first job was to stabilize the situation and prevent disaster, on the international stage our first job was to stabilize the situation to allow us to move forward,. A lot of our initiatives have not borne fruit... The question is, are we moving in the right direction. There is no doubt we are.''

Obama was asked if he will be a candidate for reelection in 2012.

"I don't think about 2012 right now,'' the Democrat said. "I think about next week...
"I said to myself very early on, when I started running for office, that I don't want to be making decisions based on getting reelected, because I think the challenges that America faces right now are so significant,'' he said. "Obviously if I make good decisions, and I think that I'm moving the country on the right direction economically, in terms of our security interests, our foreign policy, I'd like to think that those policies are going to be continued, because they are not going to bear fruit in just four years.''

He also was asked about Republican Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president last year who has embarked on a book tour this week with her new memoir, Going Rogue.

The president acknowledged he "probably won't'' read the book, suggesting that he is immersed in a lot of policy briefing books lately.

"Obviously Sarah Palin has attracted a lot of attention,'' Obama said. "She is going to do very well with this book.... She obviously has a big constituency in the Republican Party, there are a lot of people excited about her. I do think it says a lot about our political process that ten months after we're already talking about it.