President Obama on Wednesday hardly gave a mea culpa for Democrats’ disastrous performance in the 2014 midterms, attempting to move past a “good night” for Republicans that leaves the commander in chief fighting for political relevance heading into his last two years in office.
Republicans a day earlier took decisive control of the upper chamber, delivering embarrassing losses to Democrats in even blue and purple states, prompting soul-searching by White House officials about the best path forward.
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Unlike 2010, when Obama called bruising midterm elections a “shellacking,” the president refused to label the Tuesday contests a referendum on his policies.
“Understandably, people are going to ask for greater accountability and more responsibility from me than anybody else in this town,” he said, deflecting questions of blame for elections that confirmed Democrats’ worst fears.
The president now faces the choice of pursuing aggressive executive action, as promised before the midterms, or instead opting for legislative compromise with Republicans eager to showcase their governing chops.
Obama told reporters in a lengthy press conference in the White House’s East Room that he would “take whatever lawful actions I can take” on immigration before the end of the year. He delayed unilateral action on immigration to protect vulnerable Democrats, a decision that paid few dividends on Tuesday.
Obama floated ideas like boosting infrastructure spending and finalizing trade deals as areas where the White House and Republicans could find common ground in 2015.
As for the lame-duck session, Obama said that lawmakers should approve a $6 billion emergency funding request to fight Ebola, authorization to use military force against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and a budget for the rest of the fiscal year.
“The American people sent a message,” Obama said of the midterms. “They expect the people they elect to work as hard as they do. They want us to get the job done. All of us in both parties have a responsibility to address that sentiment.”
“It’s time for us to take care of business,” the president added. “I’m eager to work with the new Congress to make the next two years as productive as possible.”
Of his notoriously distant relationship with Republican lawmakers, Obama joked that he wouldn’t mind sharing Kentucky bourbon with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expected to soon take over the majority leader post.
However, the president hardly signaled a major course correction in his governing philosophy, saying that his principles had not changed in the wake of the Republican-wave election.
Obama highlighted minimum wage increases passed Tuesday in states where Republicans prevailed, implying that the midterms were more about the electoral map than his own agenda.
As for his response to the voters who kicked many Democrats out of office, Obama said simply, “I hear you.”
