Barack Obama has used a press conference marking his 100th day as president to make a strong defence of his decision to ban torture and to issue a strong signal that immigration reform will not happen within his first year in office.
The press conference came at the end of a day of political triumph for the president that started with a meeting at the White House with Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter, who this week defected from the Republicans to the Democrats.
Later in the day, both houses of Congress approved Mr Obama’s $3.4 trillion budget blueprint, paving the way for an ambitious agenda including health care reform and major infrastructure projects.
“This budget builds on the steps we’ve taken over the last one hundred days to move this economy from recession to recovery and ultimately to prosperity,” Mr Obama said.
Last night’s press conference, the president’s third since taking office, ranged across domestic and foreign policy issues, with two questions about the Bush administration’s use of harsh interrogation techniques.
Declaring flatly that the waterboarding of detainees authorised by the Bush administration was torture, Mr Obama said harsh interrogation had not produced any intelligence that could not be obtained by other means.
“I will do whatever is required to keep the American people safe,” he said.
“But I am convinced that the best way to do that is to make sure we’re not taking shortcuts that undermine who we are.”
Republicans have accused Mr Obama of endangering national security by publishing legal memos from the previous administration authorising torture. Liberals are disappointed that the president opposes establishing a truth commission to investigate the use of torture or prosecuting former officials who ordered and practised it.
During the election campaign, Mr Obama said he wanted to introduce comprehensive immigration reform during his first year as president. Last night, he said that border controls and other enforcement measures would have to be improved before new legislation, adding that he hoped to take these “key administrative steps” this year.
The president said he would be willing to work with Republican senator John McCain on immigration reform but he added that he had little control over the legislative calendar in Congress.
On foreign policy, Mr Obama expressed “grave concern” about the stability of Pakistan’s government, declaring that he was less worried about the threat posed to Pakistan by the Taliban than by the government’s incapacity to deliver basic services to its people.
He expressed confidence, however, that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal would remain secure, dismissing fears that it could fall into the hands of militant Islamists.
With opinion polls showing two out of three Americans approving of their president’s performance so far, Mr Obama said he was pleased with his administration’s progress but stressed that much remained to be done.
“Millions of Americans are still without jobs and homes, and more will be lost before this recession is over. Credit is still not flowing nearly as freely as it should. Countless families and communities touched by our auto industry still face tough times ahead. Our projected long-term deficits are still too high. Government is still not as efficient as it should be. We still confront threats ranging from terrorism to nuclear proliferation to pandemic flu,” he said.
“And all of this means you can expect an unrelenting, unyielding effort from this administration to strengthen our prosperity and our security – in the second hundred days, and the third hundred days, and all the days after. “