Next year "can be a breakthrough year for America," President Barack Obama told reporters Friday, in a wide-ranging news conference that marked his last for this year and touched on issues ranging from Obamacare to government surveillance on U.S. citizens. Obama promised a "definitive statement" in January on the issue of the National Security Agency's data surveillance program, which a White House task force urged the agency to overhaul in a report out this week. He also dismissed new polls showing him with sinking approval ratings, in the wake of tech problems with the rollout of the Obamacare federal health insurance exchange website. "My polls have gone up and down a lot over the course of my career," he said. "If I was interested in polling I wouldn’t have run for president." He admitted that Obamacare's rollout has been hampered by delays and changes, saying "we've screwed it up," but noted improvements since.
