President Obama promises active final year

President Barack Obama on Friday used his last press conference of 2015 to defend his administration's strategy against ISIS in the wake of terrorist attacks in California and Paris, as well as highlight policy achievements from the year, including negotiations with Cuba and Iran, action on climate change and more people signing up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

"I said at the beginning of this year that interesting stuff happens in the fourth quarter, and we are only halfway through," Obama said.

The end-of-the-year press conference is a time-honored task for Obama, which he often completes with grudging humor in the White House briefing room before beginning a long vacation in Hawaii. On his way to Oahu, Obama will be stopping Friday evening in San Bernardino, California, where a radicalized Muslim couple killed 14 people earlier this month.

Obama touted progress against against ISIS, citing U.S. air strikes in Iraq and Syria, which he said was hitting the group harder than ever, and pledged to continue to take out the group's leaders, commanders and forces. ISIS has lost 40% of the area it once held in Iraq and is losing ground in Syria, the President said.