new busy we appreciated. we appreciate you watching the show. happy new year to everyone. make sure you watch us every night at 6:00 p.m. up next, lou dobbs. keep it here. good evening, everybody. president obama conducting his annual year end news conference today and not surprisingly he declared this year to be one of his best. president obama began his press conference by acknowledgeing that north korea was behind the massive breach of sony's system.

>> sony's a corporation. you know it suffered significant damage. there were threats against some employees. i'm sympathetic to the concerns that they've faced. having said all that, yes, i think they made a mistake. i wish they had spoken to me first. i would have told them do not get into a pattern in which you're intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks. >> i have to give the president credit first. he's never given a more direct answer to any question, but he displayed no perceptible sign of the irony of his response to sony's response.

it was mr. obama's white house that then asked google to remove the mohammed video from google's youtube service. the president went on to promise a quote, proportional response to north korea. just minutes after the press conference reports surfaced that the president is considering retaliation. he's actually thinking about put putting north korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. a designation that has not stopped the ieotola. when asked about the long-term effect of his unilateral action the president had nothing concrete to say.

>> i think it would be beyond realistic to map out exactly where cuba will be, but change is going to come to cuba. it has to. >> the president also asked about working with the republican congress next year. mr. obama had one suggestion for the republican leadership. he thinks it would be democratic and progressive and in harmony if he passes the bills he tells them he's willing to sign. >> if executive actions on areas like minimum wage or equal pay or having a more sensible immigration system are important to republicans and they care about those issues and the executive actions are bothering them there's a very simple solution and that is pass bills and work with me to make sure i'm willing to sign those bills.

>> and now president obama off to hawaii for seven days of vacation with his family. joining us the former arkansas governor, presidential candidate, and host of "huckabee," mike huckabee. >> thank you, lou. merry christmas to you. obama is gone for seven days. we won't have to hear anymore more of this stuff. >> did he not look like the dourest figure? >> he did, but it was a disappointing press conference for this reason. here's a president who could have called sony but instead he said, why didn't they call me. we don't let tinfoil hat people in north korea tell us what

movies we can watch for gosh sake. they did something wrong. i wish they would have talked to me first. >> and within it all, he rationalizes his own passivity and the appearance of indifference to the outcome of a important national security issue and then says his response will be to consider maybe putting them on a state sponsored terrorism list which they were taken off by president george w. bush. >> do whatever i want to do. that's what the world's dictators are doing. the complete un the loon as we might want to call him. >> this is the exact parallel. he sits there and criticizes and

admonishes sony for not releasing the movie when it was his part in 2012 in which he played the part of sony. he actually asked google not to put that video up on youtube, one of their properties. i mean he was rolling over for a tin pot iotola. >> i think it's very significant that on one hand our government was trying to censor a video because it might offend somebody, and now we're offended that somebody else has produced a video that might offend the north koreans. when is the responsibility of the artistic community to not offend people? i get offended all the time as a conservative and as a christian, but i don't go around thinking we have to censor the material. i would rather live in a free

nation and get my feelings hurt now and then than to eat lawn clippings like they do in north korea. >> the president can choose to living in obama land. "the washington post," they are doing something -- i'm still not comfortable with it. they're criticizing this president. they are criticizing him talking about cuba. they are absolutely hammering him on his sudden unilateral action to try to open up cuba. what do you make of it? >> this is a president who thinks he's singularly more intelligent than the previous ten presidents combined.

cuba has been brutally oppressive to their people. they have taken over property of individuals who had to flee to america. these are people who understand, appreciate value, and cherish freedom. i think it is a slap in their face to say, let bygones be bygones. >> he is very self-aware -- well, self-involved. he was willing to look out upon the nation and all of us lowly citizens to say our culture is racist and that it is ingrained in us.

it is his utter insensibility to his role as president. he doesn't even expose an ounce one iota of gratitude, that he's the product of this society he's denigrating. it's astonishing. >> al sharpton, the official white house spokesman, he's going to take care of everything from cuba to sony to issues with the police forces across america. and the best thing for al he doesn't have to pay his taxes. i guess he feels like he's off the hook because he's doing so much for the country that we should be grateful and forgive those tax consequences that the rest of us poor lackeys have to pay into. >> merry christmas and thanks for that wonderful present this christmas season. >> thank you very much. joining us now, a former

u.s. ambassador to the united nations, bill richardson. great to have you with us. we appreciate you being up so late. let's start with your thoughts about the unilateral efforts by this president to normalize relations with cuba. >> well lou, i think it makes sense. this policy of the trade embargo, cold war relic just wasn't working. i believe the president made the correct decision. i believe that he's gotten something in return besides alan gross. i think having diplomatic relations will enable us to talk to the cubans about a bunch of issues where they need to make some improvements like human rights democracy, freedom of the press, internet freedom.

but the policy just wasn't working, lou, and i think the president was thinking of his legacy too. but before anything happened you had to get the release of alan gross. i tried to get him out four years ago. the cubans wanted the five spies they had in u.s. prisons and the u.s. wasn't ready to do that so this time i believe it's a proportional and a good deal. >> and a lot of critics of this deal, as you know, ambassador they're saying we simply did not get enough that the president is a poor negotiator but i think whatever estimation you have, he has changed the dialogue instantly with unilateral action. i personally am more disturbed by his unilateralism. his continued and gaining momentum unilateralism as an

autocrat in the highest office in our land. are you disturbed by that unilateralism? >> well lou, i think the president is looking at his legacy. he has got two years to go. he figures that an immigration reform deal doesn't look very good. talk about continued shutdowns in government. hopefully there's a trade deal a fair trade and free trade deal with asia and possible europe. i think he's looking for ways through executive action where he has more freedom. he's taking these steps. look, i personally would like to see more contact with the congress but the reality is on this cuba issue the president is not going to be able to do much on the trade embargo because the congress controls the decisions on the trade embargo by a decision made years ago the

helms burton act which basically said after the downing of those planes by fidel castro. >> right. >> that the executive branch could not make these unilateral decisions and president clinton signed the law. you know, the congress those that are very concerned about this normalization are getting something, too, but keeping the trade embargo in their own hands. >> i want to turn to north korea, a country that you understand perhaps better than any other american and played an important historical role in the release of hostages and preserving what little relationship there is between the two countries. it is now the judgment of the federal government, the u.s. government that north korea is the guilty party in attacking sony carrying cyberattacks against this country. is a military response

appropriate, and how should we respond, if not? >> well there should be a proportional response. i keep coming back to that word. what they did was very serious, which you don't want to happen, a cyberattack on the u.s. government or the pentagon. sanctions will be on the table. some kind of biting sanctions like banking sanctions, derivative sanctions, because we have sanctions across the board, but there has to be a response. now i frankly, lou, was surprised that north korea had that capability. i was there with the chairman of google two years ago, and they barely seemed to understand the internet. they barely seemed to have

viable computer force but they sure fooled everybody. if they are the conclusive perpetrator, then there has to be a response. >> governor, we thank you very much for being with us. ambassador, i could go through your list of titles bill richardson, for minutes here. i'll just say ambassador richardson thanks for being with us again. >> it's good to be on your show. new york city mayor bill de blasio escalating his war against the country's largest and most diverse police

president obama today claiming that black america is better off since he's been in office, but issues do persist in part because of our troubled racial past in the president's view. >> like the rest of america, black america in the aggregate is better off now than when i came into office. we have more work to do on that front. i have been consistent in saying

that this is a legacy of a troubled racial past jim crow and slavery. >> our next guest says pointing to jim crow is an excuse that divides the races rather than answers the questions. reverend jesse lee peterson the president and founder of the organization, a new destiny. i noticed the president reiterated that statement. he labored mindedly over a very simple thought. he's blaming everything it seemed to me at least, on jim crow and slavery. your thoughts? >> yeah. first i want to say, merry christmas to you and your staff and your family members. thanks for having me on as well. merry christmas. >> and to you as well. >> thank you. i write a weekly column.

when the ferguson situation happened and barack obama sent three representatives to michael brown's funeral, i wrote this article and the headline is "the black leadership is committing black on black crime" and the point i wanted to make is that we see the black on black crime happening on the streets, in the urban areas where young black people are killing each other, but what is not recognized is the black on black crime that is committed by the black leadership. for years, black americans have been told that the white man is their problem, that white officers hate them because of their color. what obama is doing right now is a perfect example of that. black on black -- first of all, the income level in the black community has gone down. it has not gone up.

they are it is only even because obama has made it difficult for anyone to make real money today and it has nothing to do with racism. the reason they keep pushing racism, lou is because they want to keep black people angry. when you keep blacks angry and hating their fellow man you cause their soul to die. you kill their spirit. it separates them from god. they're doing this so they can use black americans to redistribute the wealth in our country, and that's what barack obama is up to. that's what the black leadership has been up to for years, and it's really sad and pathetic to see our president of the united states of america, the greatest country in the world rather than uniting the races with truth, he is dividing them with

lies for his own personal gain. i'm ashamed of barack obama. >> barack obama is a man who has suddenly decided to take on the entire nation and say, you're a bunch of racists, that there is a legacy of racism in this country, and i wouldn't be quite against -- as caught by surprise if he had any sense of balance or fairness or reference to fact in what he said but he never does. and i don't understand why there would be this initiative to attack our law enforcement agencies and police officers and to call out the country for our racism that he knows is not ubiquitous. it is not pervasive and it is extraordinarily rare in our society. i think the man is waging a campaign of ignorance. i truly do jesse.

>> he knows exactly what he's doing, lou. i grew up in alabama and under the jim crow laws. black americans did not have the type of hatred and destruction of the family that they do today. when he ran in 2008 i tried to warn america not to vote for this man. he is no different than al sharpton jesse jackson, except that he is worse because he's not an honest man. barack obama is attacking the police departments around the country because he wants to destroy the authority of the policemen's -- that they have. he wants to destroy the head of the cia and the military so he can change the format of what's going on. he destroyed these different departments so he can bring in

other liberal blacks and replace those departments with those type of people. he knows exactly what he's doing. he's not a dumb man at all when it comes to destroying america as we know it. one quick point. >> go ahead real quick. >> michael brown was a thug. he committed a crime. he decided he was ready to die. rather than repudiate that and set a better standard for black americans, they blame the cop. up next president obama's imperious rule in contrast to bush bashing campaigns and his litany of promises to reduce the imperial presidency to something more appropriate, more american more constrained.

do you remember that? well, we do and we'll quote the president and show you his own words next.

and now a few comments on what has been a profound shift in the president's use of executive power. mr. obama by any test or measurement has to this point been a failure as president. he lacks the power of communication, the power of persuasion, the capacity and temperment to build national consensus, it seems, on any issue. he attacked president bush as a unilateralist. when senator barack obama was running for office he declared he would not abuse his power like president bush. >> these last few years we have seen an unacceptable abuse of power at home. he face real threats. any president needs the latitude to confront them swiftly and surely, but we have paid a heavy price for having a president whose priority is expanding his own power.

the constitution is treated like a nuisance. >> he could have better described himself, a narcissistic petulant president push punished by the voters and now his vengeance unleashed. no one, no part of government, able to keep him in check. he's unilaterally moved on a climate deal with china, amnesty for illegal immigrants, and reverse reversed reversed reversed decisions on communist cuba. he is now lashing out at the american people who elected him and reelected him. his is a sad performance ahead of the curtain that's not coming down on his time as president.

there is much less outrage than one might have reasonably expected toward a president who thinks so little of those he was elected to serve perhaps because we now expect so very little of him. now our quotation of the evening, this from general george patton. war is maybe fought with weapons, but they are won by men. it is the spirit of the man who gains victory. we're coming right back. the fbi says north korea carrying out the cyberattack against sony. the president says sony made the mistake. we take up the president's she inspires you. no question about that. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready.

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biotene can provide soothing relief and it helps keep your mouth healthy too. remember, while your medication is doing you good, a dry mouth isn't. biotene, for people who suffer from a dry mouth. the fbi placing the blame for the sony cyberattack on north korea warning there will be, quote, costs and consequences for the attack but giving no details on how the united states would respond. joining us now is a former cia deputy division director for korea and a senior fellow at the heritage foundation. thank you for joining us. how serious is this situation and why is there -- even though the fbi has placed the blame squarely on north korea holding

them responsible, is there no clarity in how the united states will respond? >> well, i think first of all, it is a very serious threat. a lot of people have been surprised that north korea was fingered as the culprit. they didn't realize that north korea has extensive cyber warriors. they've been engages in cyberattacks previously against u.s. government agencies and private companies, so it is a very real threat. >> and that model is almost proximate to that of the pla the people's liberation army of china china, and some are saying this looks as though it were a coordinated cyberattack with china. >> it might be. we don't know the details but north korea is capable of doing

operations by itself. it has got 5,000, perhaps even 10,000, people in these cyber units. maybe in conjunction with china, but it could be done by north korea itself. >> to your point, bruce, last night in talking with ambassador bill richardson who knows as much about korea as any politician in this country in my opinion, he was surprised at the extent of their capability in cyber warfare. when he is surprised, it is impressive. it is also disturbing that our officials have no real rejoinder or strategy or apparent path to respond to this attack. >> exactly. i'm concerned as part of the pattern with president obama we're going to see a firm

resolute rhetoric pledging to do something proportional and strong to north korea and not carry through with actions. we have seen that with sanctions on north korea. the u.s. has done a number of things to iran syria, burma, and zimbabwe that we have not done to north korea. north korea is the one who has popped nuclear weapons and say that its nuclear program is for military purposes. >> we know the unit 121 during the 1990s was working on sending groups four teams, of covert special operations forces to this country, specifically to attack our nuclear facilities. with that capability if they have indeed created and sustained that capability is that influencing u.s. policy

toward north korea in your judgment? >> i think the -- it would be far more likely that north korea would do some kind attack in the south. i don't think they would have carried out attacks against theaters in the u.s. and in that sense the sony pulling of the film was a mistake as well as some of the other movie companies that have pulled other films related to north korea. obviously, we have to be vigilant against north korean attacks, but i think it was an overreaction by sony. >> it is an exact parallel to president obama's white house begging google to take down the anti-mohammed, anti-muslim video on youtube. this time it is a mistake. then it was national policy because the president was the

one asking. bruce clinger, we thank you for being with us. >> thank you very much. president obama's illegal immigrant amnesty executive fiat losing its first test in federal court, so what you park your car. as you walk away crunch! a garbage truck backs into it. so,you call your insurance company, looking for a little support. what you get is a game of a thousand questions. was it raining? were your flashers on? was there a dog with you? by the time you hang up

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homeland security secretary jay johnson claimed that the president does have the authority to carry out his amnesty plan. >> in my judgment we have the legal authority to fix our broken immigration system in a variety of ways including deferred action. >> well, that despite a federal judge's ruling this week that finds mr. obama's policy exceeds the scope of executive authority. great to have you here. >> thanks for having me lou. >> so here we are. a president has signed -- well i guess he didn't sign. he has sent out a memorandum making amnesty de facto to 5 million illegal immigrants. we're looking at a backlog of

legal immigrants of 7 million people at cis. this isn't something he's going to be able to do i would say for sometime to come. >> the department of homeland security has been working down to whittle down that backlog. u.s. citizenship and immigration services are going to have to staff up. it is going to be an organizational challenge but at the end of the day, it is a lot better to bring those dollars into the system and make taxpayers out of those people. >> i'm not getting into the practicality of it or the impact. it is another government agency that has overwhelmed with what it has. add 5 million illegal immigrants and i don't think the republicans are going to be as concerned as a lot of people might think they are. what are the republicans going

to do with the new congress and the new senate? your thoughts? >> they can pass legislation that is conservative and pragmatic that secures our borders borders, that moves our economy forward, that republicans get credit for. middle class americans are frankly getting screwed because that unscrupulous employer is exploding the undocumented immigrant and every worker alongside them. this is a great opportunity for republicans to take credit for fixing the system. >> i wondered if they'll be persuaded by you, but i give you credit for trying. this is not just amnesty for illegal immigrants. this is amnesty for all those employers who have broken the law by hiring illegal immigrants. >> status quo is actually amnesty, so let's fix the status

quo. let's change the status quo. that's the opportunity the republicans have. >> mark at the end of the day, voters, whether they're republicans or democrats, want something to get done. >> the republicans in the house will tell you they have done it. they have moved four bills to the judiciary committee. activists on the left call it piecemeal. but they need to provide a pathway to legalization and citizenship. why won't the leadership of the republican party take that up? >> that's what john bader can do in 2015. he'll have a larger majority to

work with in the house, so let's get those four bills moving again in february and january. there's no reason they can't do it other than their own decisions. >> it's going to be interesting to see how it plays out. and i'm sure that you have persuaded them to make an effort. >> i'm sure. >> thanks for being with us. >> thank you. speaking of speaker boehner, he's slamming the president's executive action on amnesty for illegal immigrants this time in the form of a holiday poem. >> reform is needed from home in ohio to here in capitol hill, but not by executive order, but instead by bill. the american people have spoken. they expect real solutions. more freedom and less washington as defined by the constitution. for now we celebrate god's gift to us, so happy christmas to all

and to all a good night. >> what did you think of that? >> i think speaker boehner should hold onto to his job and not be a poet. >> it is all in the spirit of christmas. >> absolutely. >> thank you so much for being us. up next, the government officially declaring north korea responsible for the massive sony cyberattack but giving no these ally bank ira cds really do sound like a sure thing but i'm a bit skeptical of sure things. why's that? look what daddy's got... ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!! growth you can count on from the bank where no branches equals great rates.

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joining us now, former white house political director and republican strategist. and i have to tell you it is the first time on television together. >> that's right. >> first time in the same studio. >> we might hold hands. >> it's great to see you both. >> thank you. >> great to be here. >> let's start with the news conference the president held. did you come away inspired certain of the future and reassured on the policy direction of america? >> he started off strong. he was defending his record on the economy. he was talking about u.s. leadership internationally. i have to put a big question mark around that but then when he went after sony and said they made a mistake, it sort of

derailed the press conference. the ceo of sony said i've been talking to the white house, we've been working with the fbi. somewhere in the white house i can assure you there were people scuffling saying, the president didn't know we were having conversations with sony? i think the president seemed way too relaxed. he sounded a little rusty. >> and he just kept talking and talking and talking and filibustering. usually you want to give an answer. >> sounds like you may have missed a few of his press conferences. i don't know he's always intending to filibuster but that is his way. eight questions over that course of time. >> all to reporters most of us have never heard before.

he only called on women reporters. i don't know what the symbolism was on that. why wouldn't he call on -- >> he addresses mercedes. i think that's fine. >> why wouldn't he call on people he knew would ask him a tough question? here he is wanting to open up and normalize relations with cuba, but he is considering putting north korea back on the state terrorism list. his foreign policy makes no sense. >> for a narcissist not to be self-aware that's strange. the irony in 2012 he was the guy asking google not to show the anti-mohammed video on youtube. >> that's right, that's right. >> and the results, by the way, are very similar. >> it is. i think what's so unfortunate,

again, these mixed messages of how to deal with dictators. let's deal with castro and the brothers and get this brotherly relationship with these communists in cuba but he still doesn't know how quite to respond to the north korean dictator. this is a national security threat, an issue that has not been dealt with on cybersecurity. >> clinton was soft on islamic terrorists. our country needs to wake up. if this can happen to a company like sony it can happen to anyone. >> this is happening every day. >> that's right. >> we're talking about a million cyberattacks. i have talked to expert after expert. i have talked with the military. this is a condition that has been accepted as normal. the new head of nsa, michael

rogers saying to everyone to the congress this is a dire national security threat and no one pays a bit of attention. >> and there's bipartisan legislation help up by senator harry reid that never went through. we have this big problem and that has become a bigger issue not dealt with. >> the president has got to learn to work with congress. there are things that have to get through congress. he accused president george w. bush of being a unilateralist. this president is a unilateralist. we have to get stuff passed through congress. >> on the foreign policy as well. it is aggressive. it is forceful. it is the only way he wants to function to be relevant in the debate. >> we thank you both for being relevant and being here. >> you want to come over to dinner one night? >> thank you. >> merry christmas. now the wrap-up the

president's reason for ending more than a half century of an embargo on cuba. the president said it is the right thing to do. >> today we are taking these changes because it is the right thing to do. today america chooses to cut loose the shackles of the past. >> the president thought passing health care reform was the right thing to do. >> because it is the right thing to do for the country. >> because it is fair and it is the right thing to do. >> it was ultimately the right thing to do. >> i can persuade the american people it is the right thing to do. >> this is the right thing to do for our economy. >> the president said amnesty is the right thing to do. he used the right thing line on every topic on every issue from the economy to education to taxes and so-called green energy and a lot more. in 2010, he used the line 18 times in one speech but how could so much have gone so wrong

if president obama actually understood the right thing to do? i just want to leave that question for us all to ponder. thk tonight on "cavuto," forget businesses not anyone to start up will more just close up? john ratsenberger says not only is it harder for companies to launch today, it's even harder to stay open today. why he says the job market is getting rocked. rocker w. k. the guy famous on partying hard. why it is so hard for political parties to simply get along. later, champs of twitter. how the financial factor is teaming up with the former wwe world champ john sena. the champ