From today’s press conference:

8:15 AM PT: Bill Plante of CBS asks about the Guantanamo hunger strike. Obama says he still wants to close it. “It’s not necessary to keep America safe. It’s expensive. It’s inefficient. It hurts us” with allies and the global community. “Now, Congress has determined that they won’t let us close it. […] I’m going to reengage with Congress to try to make the case that this is not something that is in the best interests of the American people.” Obama calls Guantanamo “a no man’s land” and says the notion that we’re going to keep people there without trial “in perpetuity” is “contrary to who we are.” It’s “easy to demagogue” the issue but he says he’s going to go back to Congress.

8:17 AM PT: “We should be wiser” than to continue to keep Guantanamo open. “This is a lingering problem that is not going to get better, it’s going to fester, it’s going to get worse.”

(from transcript of full conference at DailyKos)