OUR REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT:

In remarks on Wednesday in front of business leaders, Mr. Obama made the case for continued American economic involved on the world stage -- while pledging to work with Congress to tackle tax policy, immigration and free trade.

"The bottom line is, is that America continues to lead," Mr. Obama said. He added that at the recent G20 summit in Australia, "what was striking was the degree of optimism that the world felt about the American economy -- an optimism that in some ways is greater than how Americans sometimes feel about the American economy.

"A lot of that has to do with the fact that we've got the best workers in the world, we've got the best university system, and research and development and innovation in the world, and we've got the best businesses in the world," he said.

He concluded his remarks to the Business Roundtable chief executive officers on Wednesday with the farewell line, "Happy holidays, everybody. It's good to be in America."

A day before, Mr. Obama used similar language about American leadership at a stop at the National Institutes of Health -- pressing Republicans in Congress to pass a $6.2 billion Ebola funding bill.

"Part of American leadership in the world -- one of the things that has always marked us as exceptional -- is our leadership in science and our leadership in research," Mr. Obama said.

Mr. Obama said that American leadership on the issue of Ebola had helped mobilize the world and that American pledges of aid helped galvanize the international response.

"American leadership matters every time.  We set the tone and we set the agenda," he said Tuesday.

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