Obama acknowledges responsibility for defeat

Washington: US President Barack Obama on Wednesday took responsibility for the defeat of the Democrats in the US mid-term elections. He acknowledged that he has been unable to change the nature of Washington politics during his first two years in office.

The US President said, “Over the last two years we have made progress but clearly not too many Americans have felt that progress and they have told us that yesterday and as President I take responsibility for that. My core responsibility is to ensure that we got an economy that is growing. The middle class feels secure and that jobs are being created and so I think I've gotta take direct responsibility for not making as much progress as we need to make.”

Obama said his administration was focused on revitalising the economy and advancing important legislation, such as reforming the health care and finance systems.

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday took responsibility for the defeat of the Democrats in the US mid-term elections.

Heading into the campaign, however, Republicans harshly criticised him for pursuing a partisan agenda without sufficiently reaching out to the minority party and by pushing legislation through Congress with only Democratic backing.

"We were in such a hurry to get things done that we didn't change how things got done," he said.

Obama pledged in his 2008 campaign to change political practices in Washington and bring a spirit of bipartisanship.

(With inputs from IANS)

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