100 days in, Obama warns of work to do

[Forkboy]

Says policies on healthcare, energy remain big challenges

WASHINGTON - Marking the end of a feverish first 100 days in office, President Obama last night laid out his agenda for the rest of the year, pledging to forge ahead on a healthcare overhaul, promote energy independence, and revive the banking and auto industries.

In a wide-ranging White House news conference that covered the flu pandemic, Taliban encroachment in Pakistan, and congressional politics, Obama touted his early accomplishments but warned that two of his biggest challenges - achieving healthcare and energy policy reform - still await him.

"The typical president, I think, has two or three big problems - we've got seven or eight big problems," Obama said at the news conference, his third in three months. "And so we've had to move very quickly, and I'm very proud of my team for the fact that we've been able to keep our commitments to the American people, to bring about change, while at the same time managing a whole host of issues that had come up that weren't necessarily envisioned a year and a half ago."
--
Obama reiterated his opposition to torture, saying it was not only wrong, but also that it did not succeed in getting information that could not have been obtained in other ways. But he declined to directly accuse his predecessor of sanctioning torture, saying only that he believed waterboarding - the simulated drowning procedure used during the Bush era - was torture and would no longer be permitted.

"Whatever legal rationales were used, it was a mistake," Obama said.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/04/30/100_days_in_obama_warns_of_work_to_do/