Obama urges nation to come together for holiday

November 22, 2012 at 2:11 p.m.

by The Associated Press

In this Nov. 19, 2012 file photo, U.S. President Barack Obama waves to the media as he embraces Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after they spoke to the media at her residence in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday. The United States is unwinding two decades of sanctions against Myanmar, as the country's reformist leadership oversees rapid-fire economic and political change. Obama's visit this week, the first by a serving U.S. president, is a sign of how far relations have come. But Washington continues to take a calibrated approach to easing sanctions, keen to retain leverage should Myanmar's reform momentum stall.
In this Nov. 19, 2012 file photo, U.S. President Barack Obama waves to the media as he embraces Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after they spoke to the media at her residence in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday. The United States is unwinding two decades of sanctions against Myanmar, as the country's reformist leadership oversees rapid-fire economic and political change. Obama's visit this week, the first by a serving U.S. president, is a sign of how far relations have come. But Washington continues to take a calibrated approach to easing sanctions, keen to retain leverage should Myanmar's reform momentum stall.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is urging Americans to put aside partisan differences and come together as a nation for Thanksgiving.

Obama, just re-elected to a second term, says in his weekly radio and Internet address that the country has “just emerged from a campaign season that was passionate, noisy and vital to our democracy.”

While the election required voters to make choices, Obama says Thanksgiving offers “a chance to put it all in perspective — to remember that, despite our differences, we are and always will be Americans first and foremost. ‘’

In the GOP address, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state said Republicans are ready to work with Obama to avert impending tax increases, big spending cuts and other problems.

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