“So the question is: are we going to be able to have a national conversation and move something through Congress? I’d like to get it done in the first year. I will put forward a very specific proposal based on the recommendations that Joe Biden’s task force is putting together as we speak. And so this is not something that I will be putting off. … And, yes, it’s going to be hard.”
GREGORY: “Do we have an armed guard at every school in the country?”
OBAMA: “I am not going to prejudge the recommendations that are given to me. I am skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools.”
GREGORY: “do you feel like you let your friend Susan Rice hang out there to dry a little bit?”
OBAMA: “No. … Why she was targeted individually, for the kind of attacks that she was subjected to, … was puzzling to me.”
* * * OBAMA: “I remain optimistic, I’m just a congenital optimist, that eventually people kind of see the light. Winston Churchill used to say that we Americans, we try every other option before we finally do the right thing. … And I think that that’s true for Congress as well. And I think it’s also important for Americans to remember that politics has always been messy. People have been asking me a lot about the film ‘Lincoln’ and — ”
GREGORY: “Is this your Lincoln moment?”
OBAMA: “Well, no. Look, A, I never compare myself to Lincoln and, B, obviously the magnitude of the issues are quite different from the Civil War and slavery. The point, though, is democracy’s always been messy. And we’re a big, diverse country that is constantly sort of arguing about all kinds of stuff. But eventually we do the right thing. … So one way or another, we’ll get through this. Do I wish that things were more orderly in Washington and rational and people listened to the best arguments and compromised and operated in a more thoughtful and organized fashion? Absolutely. But when you look at history, that’s been the exception rather than the norm.”
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