Washington: Feeling 'bad' after an election drubbing, President Barack Obama has acknowledged that he and his Democrats took 'a shellacking' from angry American voters but dismissed the charge that his economic policies are taking the country backward.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, a day after Democrats lost their majority in the House of Representatives and lost ground in the Senate to Republicans, Obama said, "I feel bad".
He called the election a Democratic 'shellacking' and lamented that 'we lost track of the ways we connected with the folks who got us here in the first place."
"Some election nights are more fun than others," Obama said, adding that 'as president, I take responsibility' for a failure to restore job growth more quickly. He said he was eager to sit down with the leaders of both political parties "and figure out how we can move forward together."
At the same time, he acknowledged that cooperating with the Republicans won't be easy.
"It won't be easy," he said, noting the two parties differ profoundly in some key areas like tax cuts, debts and deficits.
Obama also tried to deflect criticism that his economic policies were driving the US backward.
"It would be hard to argue that we're going backwards. I think what you can argue is we're stuck in neutral. I think we are not moving the way we need to make sure that folks have the jobs, have the opportunity, are seeing economic growth in their communities the way they need to," Obama said.
The President said when he assumed office two years ago, the economy was in a free fall.
"The economy is growing. We've seen nine months of private-sector job growth."
"That's going to require Democrats and Republicans to come together and look for the best ideas to move things forward," he said.
"The American people understand that we're still digging our way out of a pretty big mess. So I don't think anybody denies they think we're in a ditch. I just don't think they feel like we've gotten all the way out of the ditch yet," he said.
The President said he has been willing to compromise in the past and will do so in the future. The energy issue being one of them, he noted.
Obama said without any Republican support on anything, it's going to be hard to get things done.
"But I'm not going to anticipate that they're not going to support anything. I think that part of the message sent to Republicans was: We want to see stronger job growth in this country," he said.