Conceding that his party took “a thumpin’ ” in Tuesday’s election, President Bush on Wednesday pledged to work with Democrats to increase the minimum wage and grant legal status to illegal immigrants.
“I’m obviously disappointed with the outcome of the election and, as the head of the Republican Party, I share a large part of the responsibility,” Bush said at an East Room news conference. “I told my party’s leaders that it is now our duty to put the elections behind us and work together with the Democrats and independents on the great issues facing this country.”
Bush spent Wednesday reaching out to Democratic leaders, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, California, who is expected to become House speaker, and Sen. Harry Reid, Nevada, who might become Senate majority leader if two unresolved races end up as Democratic victories.
Doing his best to put a brave face on a significant setback for Republicans, Bush even attempted a joke about Pelosi.
“In my first act of bipartisan outreach since the election, I shared with her the names of some Republican interior decorators who can help her pick out the new drapes in her new offices,” he told reporters.
It was a reference to Pelosi’s statement before the election that she would soon have her choice of offices on Capitol Hill. The San Francisco Democrat was then accused of overconfidence by Bush, who said she was prematurely measuring for drapes.
“Nancy Pelosi has called you incompetent, a liar, the emperor with no clothes and, as recently as yesterday, dangerous,” a reporter reminded Bush. “How will you work with someone who has such little respect for your leadership and who is third in line to the presidency?”
Bush shrugged off the harsh rhetoric.
“I’ve been around politics a long time,” he said. “Look, people say unfortunate things at times. But if you hold grudges in this line of work, you’re never going to get anything done.”
Ironically, the president now has a better chance of enacting his proposed guest worker program for illegal immigrants. The measure had passed the Senate, but was blocked by conservative Republicans in the House, where most Democrats favor the proposal.
Bush said he was genuinely surprised that the economy did not help elect more Republicans.
While he said the Iraq war had a major impact on the election, he said that Republicans were also hurt by scandals.
The president also joked about his top political strategist, Karl Rove, falling short in 2006 after engineering Republican victories in 2000, 2002 and 2004.
“I obviously was working harder on the campaign than he was,” Bush quipped as Rove smiledsheepishly.
