--- title: President Obama Says He Feels 'Responsible' for Syria description: President Obama discussed his feelings on the ongoing crisis in Aleppo canonical: https://time.com/4605309/president-obama-syria-responsible-right-approach/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-16T20:50:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:21:08.173Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Says He Feels 'Responsible' for Carnage in Syria og:description: Obama also said he believes the U.S. took "the right approach, given what we realistically could get done" og:url: https://time.com/4605309/president-obama-syria-responsible-right-approach/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7c4aec8067ff557/6988b34ca988ca07f56ba796/obama_syria.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama in his last news conference of the year at the White House, Dec. 16, 2016. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Says He Feels 'Responsible' for Carnage in Syria twitter:description: Obama also said he believes the U.S. took "the right approach, given what we realistically could get done" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7c4aec8067ff557/6988b34ca988ca07f56ba796/obama_syria.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Says He Feels 'Responsible' for Carnage in Syria > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 16, 2016 8:50 PM UTC  President Barack Obama in his last news conference of the year at the White House, Dec. 16, 2016. President Barack Obama in his last news conference of the year at the White House, Dec. 16, 2016. Jonathan Ernst—Reuters by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 16, 2016 8:50 PM UTC [President Obama](http://time.com/4605260/president-obama-russia-hacking-warn-press-conference/) said Friday that he feels responsible for the ongoing crisis in [Aleppo](http://time.com/4604591/syria-aleppo-evacuation-resumes/), where carnage has left the [Syrian](http://time.com/4604591/syria-aleppo-evacuation-resumes/) city in shambles. “I always feel responsible,” Obama said at his final press conference of the year. “Because of my office, because I’m president of the United States. I feel responsible. There’s not a moment during the course of this presidency where I haven’t felt some sort of responsibility.” President Obama and White House officials have placed a great deal of blame on [Russia](http://time.com/4604557/japan-russia-economic-trade-territorial-g7/) and Iran as attacks have continued in Syria, which is in the midst of a multi-year civil war. The president on Friday also defended his administration’s course of action in Syria, saying that the U.S. weighed all of the options on the table without having to send war-weary Americans off to battle. “I understand the impulse to want to do something, but ultimately I’ve had to think about what we can sustain, what is realistic,” he said. The president said he’s always thought about “what’s best for America” when making decisions. “I continue to believe it was the right approach, given what we realistically could get done.” President Obama said going forward he will help President-elect Trump with any information he may need when it comes to Syria, but until the inauguration it will ultimately be up to him. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4605309/president-obama-syria-responsible-right-approach/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4605309/president-obama-syria-responsible-right-approach/"},"headline":"President Obama Says He Feels 'Responsible' for Carnage in Syria","datePublished":"2016-12-16T20:50:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:21:08.173Z","description":"Obama also said he believes the U.S. took \"the right approach, given what we realistically could get done\"","url":"https://time.com/4605309/president-obama-syria-responsible-right-approach/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","Syria","Obama","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7c4aec8067ff557/6988b34ca988ca07f56ba796/obama_syria.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7c4aec8067ff557/6988b34ca988ca07f56ba796/obama_syria.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama in his last news conference of the year at the White House, Dec. 16, 2016.","caption":"President Barack Obama in his last news conference of the year at the White House, Dec. 16, 2016.","creditText":"Jonathan Ernst—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4605309/president-obama-syria-responsible-right-approach/","name":"President Obama Says He Feels 'Responsible' for Carnage in Syria"}}]}] ```