President Obama's news conference is schedule to start at 1:15 ET. I'll be posting updates here, and you can follow along with the video above. AP's preview of the news conference, including a report on the mortgage plan, is available
here.
10:16 AM PT: The press conference starts on time with a statement from President Obama on the new assistance he plans to offer homeowners.
10:18 AM PT: President Obama renews his call for tax incentives for "onshoring" and for the Buffett Rule. He also calls on Congress to pass his proposal to allow homeowners to refinance to take advantage of low rates.
10:21 AM PT: "If Congress refuses to act, I've said I'll continue to do everything in my power to move ahead without them." Obama says the administration will facilitate the refinancing of mortgages through the Federal Housing Authority, which will save affected families $1,000. Obama also announces he's reached a settlement with banks who wrongly foreclosed on soldiers or who wrongly charged them unfairly high rates. Those who were affected will be compensated fully, plus a penalty.
10:23 AM PT: First question is about President McCain's criticism over Syria and President Romney's criticism of his handling of Iran.
10:25 AM PT: Obama, citing the new sanctions put in place against Iran, points out that he has united the world around a policy of denying Iran the ability to obtain a nuclear weapon—a big shift, he says, from the situation he inherited. President Obama says he believes Iran can be handled diplomatically.
10:26 AM PT: Shifting gears to focus on Romney (who he doesn't mention by name), President Obama calls out his "casual" approach to war. His words are "more about politics" than solving problems. "If some of those folks think that this is the time to start a war, then they should say so." Everything else, he says, is hot air.
10:28 AM PT: Correction on the quote from the 10:25 update: "If some of these folks think it's time to launch a war, they should say that."
10:29 AM PT: Waiting for the GOP outrage that President Obama dared hold a news conference whilst Super Tuesday voting was under way. (You know, like how angry they got when he scheduled a speech when they had a debate scheduled. I bet they wish they'd gone ahead and canceled that debate, dontcha' think?)
10:31 AM PT: Obama points out that sanctions are getting even tougher on Iran over the next few weeks and months, putting the lie to the notion that it's now or never to take military action. "It is deeply in everybody's interests ... to see if this can be resolved in a peaceful fashion."
10:32 AM PT: "Sometimes [military action] is necessary, but we don't do it casually" ... "Sometimes we bear that cost, but we don't play politics with it." When we play politics, we make mistakes. And when that happens it's usually "not the folks that are popping off who pay the price."
10:37 AM PT: Next question: are we a week or two away from declaring war on Iran. Uh, he's already answered that question twice: his answer was no. Nothing is happening in the next week or two in terms of U.S. military action. If I were a reporter asking about military action, I'd ask about what sorts of military action the U.S. would be willing to take if several months from now President Obama determined it was necessary. I'd also ask if he believes he needs congressional authorization to move forward. But those questions aren't being asked.