have described the issues. it is not american oil, it is canadian oil that is drawn out of tar sands in canada. that oil, currently is being shipped out through rail or trucks and it would save canadian oil companies and the canadian oil industry an enormous amount of money if they could simply pipe it all the way through the united states down to the gulf. once that oil gets to the gulf, it is then entering into the world market, and it would be sold all around the world. so there's no -- i don't want to

say no, there is very little impact. nominal impact on u.s. gas prices, what the average american consumer cares about. by having this pipeline come through, and sometimes the way this gets sold is let's get this oil and it's going to come here, and the implication is that's going to lower gas prices here in the united states. it's not. there's a global oil market. it's very good for canadian oil companies, and it's good for the canadian oil industry. but it's not going to be a huge benefit to u.s. consumers. it's not even going to be nominal benefit to u.s. consumers. the construction of the pipeline itself will create probably a couple thousand jobs, temporary jobs. there is probably some

additional jobs that can be created in the refining process in the gulf. >> and then with respect to the costs all i've said is i want to make sure that if, in fact, this project goes forward that is not adding to the problem of climate change, which i think is very serious, and does impose serious cost on the american people.

some of them long term but significant costs nonetheless. if we have more flooding, more wildfires, more drought. their direct economic impacts on that. as we're rebuilding after sandy, for example, we're having to consider how do we increase preparedness, and how we structure, infrastructure, hou housing and so foster along the jersey shore, those are costs that i can impose, and you can put a dollar figure on it. in terms of process, you have a nebraska judge determining whether or not the new path for this pipeline is appropriate. once that is resolved, then the state department will have all the information it needs to make its decision. but i've just tried to give this perspective, because i think that there has been this

tendoncy to really hype this thing as some magic formula, and to what ails the u.s. economy, and it's hard to see where they're getting that information from. in terms of oil prices and how it impacts the decision, i think that it won't have a significant impact. except in the minds of folks when gas prices were lower than were less susceptible to the answer of lowering gas prices. but it's not the answer because the oil piped through the pipeline would go out in the world market. >> is this something where you're clearly saying that you're not going to let congress force your hand on this? >> i'll see what they do. we'll take that up in the new

year. >> any new year's resolution? >> i'll ask--april, go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president, last question, i guess. [ laughing ] six years ago this month i asked you what was the state of it in the oval office. you said that it was the best of times and worst of times. you said it was the best of times in the sense that there were never more opportunity for african-americans t for education. in the end of 2014 what is the state of those issues. >> like the rest of america black america in the aggregate is better off than when i came in to office. the jobs created, the people would who have gotten health

insurance, the housing equity that has been recovered. the 401 pensions recovered. a lot of those folks are african-american. they're better off than they were. the gap betwee in the wealth between white and black america persists, and we need to continue working on that front. i've been consistent in saying that this is a legacy of a troubled racial past of jim crow, slavery. that's not an excuse for black folks, and i think the overall majority of black people understand that it's not an excuse. they're out there working hard, hustling, trying to get an education, sending their kids in college, but they're starting behind often times in the race. what is true for all americans is we should be willing to

provide people a hand up, not a hand out, help folks get early education, graduate from colle high school and go into college. the education reforms we've initiated are showing measurable results. we have the highest high school graduation that we've seen in a very long time. we're seeing record numbers of young people tending college. many states that have initiated reforms you're seeing progress in math scores and reading scores for african-american and latino students as well as the broader population, but we still have got more work to go. obviously how we're thinking about race relations has been

colored by ferguson, the garner case in new york, a growing awareness in the broader population of what many communities of color have understood for a long time, and that is there are specific instances at least where the--where law enforcement doesn't feel as if it's being applied in a color-blind fashion. the task force that i formed is supposed to report back to me in 90 days. not with a bunch of abstract mousings about race relations, but concrete, practical things that police departments and law enforcement agencies can begin using right now to rebuild trust

between communities of color and the police department. my intention is as soon as i get those recommendations is to start implementing them. some through executive action. some will requir require congressional action, and some on the part of state and local jurisdictions. but i think its healthy the conversation that we've had. these are not new phenomenon. the reason they're not surfacing in part people have been able to film more than what is passed around the kitchen table allows people to make their own assessments and evaluations. you're not going to solve the problem if it's not being talked about. in the meantime we've been moving forward on criminal justice reform issues more broadly. one of the things that i didn't talk about in my opening statement was that last year was

the first time in four years that we had the prison population rate to go down and crime rates to go down at the same time. that allows us to think smarter about how we're dealing with non-violent offenders, drug offenses, drug diversion programs, drug courts. we can do a better job of--and save money in the process--by initiating some of these reforms. i've been pleased to see republicans and democrats in congress who have been interested in these issues as well. one thing that i will say, and this is going to be the last thing i say is that one of the things about the job is you get to meet the american people.

you meet folks from every walk of life, every part of the country, every religion, every faith, and what i don't think is always captured in our political debates is the vast majority of people are just trying to do the right thing. and people are basically good and have good intentions. sometimes our institutions and our systems don't work as well as they should. sometimes you've got a police department that has gotten into bad habits over a period of time, and hasn't maybe surfaced some hidden biases that we all carry around. but if you offer practical solutions i think people want to fix these problems. this is not a situation where people feel good seeing somebody

choked and dying. i think that's troubles everybody. there is an opportunity for all of us to come together, you know, to take a practical approach to these problems. and i guess that's my general theme for the end of the year, which is we've gone through difficult times. it is your job, press corp, to report on all of the mistakes that are made, all the bad things that happen, the crises that look like they're popping, and i understand that. through persistent effort and the faith of the american people things have gotten better. our ability to generate clean energy has gotten better. we know more about how to

educate our kids. we solve problems. ebola is a real crisis. you make a mistake in the first case because it's not something seen before, we fix it. you have unaccompanied children who spike at a border, and it may not get fixed in the time frame of the news cycle, but it gets fixed. part of what i hope t when reflecting on the new year is generating confidence. america knows how to solve problems. when we work together we can't be stopped. now i'm going on vacation, mele

kalikimaka, everybody. mahalo. >> president obama, on the day that the obama administration declared that the government, that north korea was responsible for the attacks on sony, that caused them to bring down their film, that there will be an u.s. government proportional response to the nature of the crime. asked specifically if that is a counterattack, a cyberattack, the president would not say. he did say that he felt that sony made a mistake pulling down the film. he wished that sony had talked to him beforehand when the president was asked if north korea had any assistance from any other countries, the president said that there were no indications that north korea was helped by any other countries in the attack. he said that we're better off and in better position than in a long time. he described the presidency going into the fourth quarter. on cuba the president said he

would not be visiting cuba any time soon. he said there will be train strains in the relationship with cuba, but change has to happen can cuba, it has to, or the economy doesn't work. he said he's not going to support the keyston keystone ex oil po pipeline. let's go to libby casey at capitol hill. libby, the president declaring cyber war on north korea. what is the reaction? >> well, david, i mean, this was to some degree expected. because the fbi had come out earlier today directly linking the cyberattack at sony to north korea. he said the software use was similar to malware had used before. so the administration had made the links. but certainly significant for the president to come out and

say it, and to talk about the repe repercussions on the morale, the creator, content, being stifled by this potentially in the future. the congress had grave concerns, the question is how do they act? and the president said that he's willing to work with congress to come up with some cyber security legislation. that has been in the works for many months, but democrats and republicans have different opinions about how much information companies should share and how cyber security can best be achieved. if you talk to experts they say a lot of what congress is talking about is small ball. now, the ramifications of this particular hack and how it has even encouraged ceos to be more protective of their personal information as well as corporate information may be a game changer. >> let's go out to los angeles, michael shure is out there, our

political editor, what do you make of the president saying that there is going to be some proportional response now to north korea? >> yes, i think there were a number of interesting take aways, not the least of which you went to libby first, the president called only on female reporters today from the very get-go. the first question that made the headline is the president saying that sony made a mistake. there is a lot of play here. it's surprising to hear him be so blunt about it. a lot of those e-mails that said derogatory things at the president himself and poked fun at the types of movies that he would be interested in. i'm not saying that that would have an affect on it, but it's interesting that the president would respond in kind that way. the response that he made that this movie is an i satire and what would happen if there was a documentary or news program that talked about north korea this way, are we going to set

censorship from abroad like that. that was interesting from the beginning of the preys conference. the president talking about keystone, as alluded to by you and libby, the keystone pipeline conference really has changed since election day. the president doesn't have kay hagin and mary landrieu and mark begich to defend any more. he can be freer and you saw a president who was that way today. >> let's swing over to the white house briefing room, mike viqueira, eight questions, all women, none of the broadcast stations got questions. what do you make of that, and what is the range of options that he's likely to be presented with. >> you're right, they were all females, none of them tv, whether broadcast or network. i think this is a president on his way to three weeks of vacation in hawai'i. his childhood home, it's a place

that could easily anticipated by the president and his staff as they prepare for this. the president being circumspect about retaliations against north korea. no one needs to be reminded what is at stake here. we're talking about a very unpredictable and unstable regime and opaque regime. let's not forget there are 30,000 american troops along the dmz between north and south korea, and they've been there for the better part of the last 60 years ever since the assistance of the korean war in 1963. i think one of the concrete questions, was north korea aided or abetted by any other nation states, obviously china being most closest to north korea, the contract very uneequivocal on that.

china was not involved here. as far as we know it's all on north korea. they had the technical capability to doing this. and heeed a montana admonished the sony corporation, he said he wished they had come to him. they had come to the white house and administration and asked advice consulting with the way the white house put it, a screening is the way the report had it, in screening the movie in question here and the white house said largely there was nothing to worry about and very great pains to say this is not a policy. this is not the initiative of sony corporation that think came forward. nonetheless the president said they did not come forward and asked whether or not they should withdraw this movie from theaters. the president i thought in a remarkable statement, i wish they had come to me. >> indeed, al jazeera's mike viqueira at the white house. the president offered information about his conversations with cuban president rule can toe.

we'll get to that on the other side of the break with antonio mora from "consider this." we'll have more after this break.

>> it does seem that it will an hot potato over the next couple of weeks. we're sort of in this vacuum where the president is not going to be making news, and a lot of folks who are going to run for president are going to run in the headlines. does this make cuba the big debate? you have to assume that most in congress will agree there should be some response to north korea. >> i think while the president goes on these vacation, these issues will not go on vacation and north korea will be talked about. i think as the political dialogue goes on even over the holidays a lot of republicans are going to make hay over what the president had to say over keystone. i think keystone is going to be tart talked about. washington is going to be first on the sandy when he returns and the senate begins anew in january. so i think that you're going to

hear a lot about keystone. you'll see a departure from the neutrality that he tried to show all along. it seems for the first time we see a president who seems as if he's going to vote against having keystone be--that he would veto anything that would come out of congress on keysto keystone. >> that is a conflict coming early out of 2015. thanks to michael shure and antonio moreh libby casey is outside. the president making news that there will b response to north korea thehat administrati identified north korea the sauce of the attack on sony. the president said it was a mistake for sony to pull the film. we'll have more on this throughout the day. including the news at 4:00 eastern time. i'm david shuster. thanks for watching.

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