On his 100th day in office, U.S President Barack Obama says while he is pleased with the progress the country has made there is no time to rest. Speaking at a town hall style event in a suburb of St. Louis in Missouri, the president said Wednesday Americans have picked themselves up and are working to remake their country. But he also warned the U.S. still faces many obstacles.
Mr. Obama said the country must find ways to make sure the current financial crisis is never repeated, and find ways to reduce growing health care costs that are hurting businesses and families.He also took questions from the audience, telling a pastor the U.S. cannot neglect other parts of the world. And he told a young girl his administration will work to combat climate change in an "intelligent" and sustainable way.
Later, the president returns to the White House for a nationally televised news conference.
President Obama has undertaken an ambitious agenda since becoming the nation's first African-American president on January 20. He pushed through a $787 billion economic stimulus package and unveiled a number of initiatives to rescue the ailing financial and automotive industries.
In the areas of national security and foreign policy, the president ordered the closure of the terrorist detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and changed the U.S. approach to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Obama took steps to improve America's image abroad, including outreach to the Muslim world, and made overtures to bitter U.S. rivals Cuba, Iran and Venezuela.
The president enters his 100th day in office Wednesday with an approval rating above 60 percent but is facing another major challenge -- an outbreak of swine flu that has killed dozens of people in Mexico and spread to the United States and across the globe.
It has been a tradition for journalists and historians to examine a new president's first 100 days in office since 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt became president. Roosevelt pushed through 15 major pieces of legislation during that period to help the nation combat the Great Depression, the worst economic crisis in U.S. history.