Obama would rather be a good one-termer

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- President Obama, in an interview Tuesday with ABC News, said the drop in his approval ratings will not deter him from his policy goals for the United States.

Obama told "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer he would rather "be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president."

"I will not slow down in terms of going after the big problems that this country faces," he said. "The easiest thing for me to do, Diane, would be to go small bore, avoid controversy, just make sure that everybody's comfortable and we only propose things that don't threaten any special interests in Washington. If you do that, then you can get a boost in the poll numbers."

Obama is scheduled to deliver his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress Wednesday night.

The president acknowledged the complexity of the healthcare bills and the horse trading needed to secure passage has contributed to his drop in approval numbers. He said some "stray cats" got into the bill.

The president joked that he learned during the campaign he is a "genius" when poll numbers are up and "cool and cerebral, cool and detached" when they slip.

The interview airs Tuesday on "Nightline" and Wednesday on "Good Morning America."