The White House is trying to recover from months of negative news about the implementation of the healthcare overhaul, which is believed to have dragged down his approval ratings.

Several of the president's domestic legislative priorities, including tightening up gun control, made little progress at Capitol Hill in 2013. Obama vowed to gain ground in the upcoming new year.

"We head into next year with an economy that's stronger than it was at the start of the year," Obama said, "I firmly believe that 2014 can be a breakthrough year for America."

He regarded 2014 to be a "year of action" on moving forward the immigration reform, creating more jobs, and extending wages and benefits.

The latter half year of 2013 has also been dominated by breaking news of the leaks by former U.S. defense contractor Edward Snowden about the National Security Agency's top secret surveillance programs.

Obama defended the NSA's domestic phone records programs while promising some reforms in the upcoming new year. He said he would review the reform recommendations by a presidential advisory panel during his holiday break starting Friday, and would make a "pretty definitive statement" in January about some reforms.

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