On Cuba, Obama acknowledged that the US policy of the past fifty years has failed. Obama’s comment came days after he eased travel restrictions on Cuban Americans. On Sunday, he called on Cuban President Raul Castro to take some steps if he wants to start a dialogue with the United States

President Obama: “And the fact that you had Raul Castro say he’s willing to have his government discuss with ours not just issues of lifting the embargo, but issues of human rights, political prisoners, that’s a sign of progress. And so, we’re going to explore and see if we can make some further steps. There are some things that the Cuban government could do. They could release political prisoners.”