leslie clark. mccain nelson. i think this is going to be our last question. juliette osburn.pril, go ahead. >> it was a historic day. president obama only took questions from female reporters at this, the solo white house press conference this afternoon. and for a president that seemed particularly relaxed and confident, it was a little more than a month ago he was meeting with republican leaders after that gop sweep and the back drop was threats from isis, the problem with ebola today. ebola seems con ttained on the home front for now. the job numbers, gas prices, and executive action and breakthroughs in foreign policy, the president basically provided over a jam-packed successful year-end press conference. joining me to explain it all, adam franco, former speechwriter and former special assist to president obama, and leslie clark, one of the reporters who asked a question at today's presser. let me start with you on that note, leslie. the president femelt he had a l of good news to spread and he went through the list of reporters we saw there. >> he did seem to do a victor

. >>> leslie clark? >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. i have a number of questions as well. i wanted to -- >> do i have to write all of these down? >> a number sounded intimida intimidating. >> if i can. >> i want to see if you got assurances from the cuban government that it would not sabotage the deal as it has in the past when past presidents have made similar overtures to the government. >> be specific, what do you mean? >> reporter: when the clinton administration raised over tours, they shot down claims. sort of has pattern of doing provocative -- >> just general provocative activity. >> reporter: provocative activity. i want to see what is your knowledge of fidel castrcastro, he have any role in the talks? when you talked to president raul castro, did fidel castro's name come up? did you ask about him, how is he doing? we haven't seen him in a while. given the deep opposition of republicans in congress lifting the embargo. the embassy, any changes that you're doing, are you going to personally get involved about talking to them about what they want to do to block mone

. >> leslie clark. roberta ravmenton. >> sreenivasan: it might be a very small example of how the president, often criticized for his caution, is now doing things his own way as he begins his last two years in office. for more, we are joined by peter baker, white house reporter at the "new york times." so is this press conference an example of this new president obama that we're seeing in the last six weeks? >> yeah, that's a good question. the truth is i was in the room, had my question ready to go, and i didn't even notice that it was only women being asked. the truth is, there are a lot of strong, powerful, and incredibly talented women in the white house press corps so it's hardly an unusual thing to have them ask questions of the president. but what's interesting, of course, is the president is coming off a period where he's supposed to be in lame duck mode, having lost rather decisively the midterm elections. instead he cut a climate deal with china. he issued an immigration order that is pretty s

leslie clark. >> thank you, sir. i have a number of questions for you as well. >> ok. >> appreciate that. >> do i have to write all these down? the numbers sounded intimidated. >> quick as i can. >> ok. >> i want too see if you got any assurances from the cuban government that it would not revert to the famous habit of sabotaging the deal when we've made similar overtures to the government. >> what do you mean? >> when the administration made overtures, they shot down planes, they had a pattern of doing provocative -- >> ok. so just general provocative activities. >> provocative activities. i wanted to see what is your knowledge of whether fidel castro, did he have any role in the foxx? -- talks? when you talked to raul castro, did raul castro's name come up? how is he doing. from lifting the embargo, any of the changes you're doing, are you going to personally get involved in terms of stalking to them about efforts that they want to do to block money on a new embassy >> ok. this is taking up a lot of time. >> all ri

leslie clark. >> i have a number of questions on cuba as well. >> do i have to write all these down? how many are there? a number sounded intimidating. >> quick as i can. i want to see if you have any assurances from the cuban government that it would not revert to the same sort of sabotage the deal as it has in the past when presidents have made similar overtures to the government? >> meaning? be specific. what do you mean? >> like when the clinton situation made overtures. they shot down planes. they sort of have this pattern of doing provocative -- >> okay. so general provocative activities. >> any time the u.s. has sort of reached out a hand to them. i wanted to see what is your knowledge of whether fidel castro, did he have any role in the talks? did you talk -- when you talked to president castro, raul castro, did fidel castro's name come up, or did you can ask about him? how is he doing? we haven't seen him in a while. given the deep opposition from some republicans in congress to lifting embargo to an embassy, to any of the changes that you are doing, are you going to persona

leslie clark? >> reporter: i have a number of questions as well. >> do i have to write all these down? how many are they? >> reporter: as quick as i can. i want to see if you have any assurances from the cuban government that it would not revert to the same sort of sabotage as it has in the past when president presidents have made similar overtures to the government. >> be specifically. what do you mean? >> reporter: when the clinton administration made overture, they shot down planes and have this pattern of doing provocative -- >> just general provocative activity. >> reporter: any time the u.s. reached out a hand to them and what's your knowledge of whether fidel castro had any role in the talks and when you spoke to raul castro, did fidel castro's name come up, have you asked about him? how is he doing? people haven't seen him in a while. and given deep opposition from republicans in congress to lifting the embargo to embassy to any changes that you're doing, are you going to personally get inv

leslie clark. >> a number of questions on cuba, as well. >> okay. >> appreciate that. >> do i have to write all of these down? how many? the number sounded intimidating. >> quick as i can. >> okay. >> i wanted to see if you got any assurances from the cuban government that it would not revert to the same sort of sabotage the deal as it has in the past when past presidents have made similar overtures to the government. >> meaning -- be specific, what do you mean? >> when the clinton administration made some overtures, they shot down planes, they sort of had a pattern of doing provocative -- >> just general provocative -- >> provocative activities any time the u.s. sort of reached out of hand. >> okay. >> i wanted to see what is your knowledge of whether fidel castro, did he have any role in the talks? when you talked to president raul castro, did fidel castro's name come up? did you ask about him? how is he doing? people haven't seen him in a while. given the deep opposition from some republicans in congress for lifting the embargo to an embassy to any of the changes you're doing, are

leslie clark. >> reporter: thank you. i had a number of questions on cuba as well. i appreciate that. >> do i have to write all these down? how many? the number sounded intimidating. >> reporter: i wanted to see you if got any assurances from the cuban government it would not have the -- sabotage the deal like it has in the past when the president has made similar overtures to the government? >> meaning -- be specific. what do you mean? >> reporter: when the clinton administration made some overture, they shot down planes. they sort of have a pattern of doing provocative -- >> okay. just general provocative activities. >> reporter: any time you sort of reached out a hand. i wanted to see what is your knowledge of whether fidel castro, did he have any roles in the talks? when you talked to raul castro, did fidel castro's name come up? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: did you ask about him? people haven't seen him in a while. given deep opposition from republicans in congress to lifting the embargo to the embassy to any of the changes you're doing, are you going to personally

>> leslie clark. >> i wanted to see if you got any clues from -- >> under what conditions would you meetro? >> president obama making a little history on friday. his traditional end of year press conference. every single reporter called on, a woman as far as we can tell. the first time that's ever happened. >> i'm quite sure it is. >> i'm sure you're right. >> i'm quite sure it is. >> cokie, you know, that was remarkable on its own but the president had a pretty remarkable december. six weeks after that midterm shellacking. we saw him come out the day after the midterms looking defeated. a month later, six weeks after all these executive actions on china, immigration, cuba this week. he's in a different place. >> and clearly it showed. he was up, he was having some fun with the press, which is not his norm. and he was touting the successes of america, and i think that that has been something that he's been hesitant to do because there are still an awful lot of people hurting, but the employment numbers are so much better. the stock market, of course, is booming, and i think he wants to t

leslie clark. >> thank you, sir. i have a number of questions for you as well. >> ok. >> appreciate that. >> do i have to write all these down? the numbers sounded intimidated. >> quick as i can. >> ok. >> i want too see if you got any assurances from the cuban government that it would not revert to the famous habit of sabotaging the deal when we've made similar overtures to the government. >> what do you mean? >> when the administration made overtures, they shot down planes, they had a pattern of doing provocative -- >> ok. so just general provocative activities. >> provocative activities. i wanted to see what is your knowledge of whether fidel castro, did he have any role in the foxx? -- talks? when you talked to raul castro, did raul castro's name come up? how is he doing. from lifting the embargo, any of the changes you're doing, are you going to personally get involved in terms of stalking to them about efforts that they on a do to block money new embassy >> ok. this is taking up a lot of time. >> all right. >>