03 November 2010

Midterms Show Voters Still Worried About Economy, Obama Says

President Obama joins nearly every U.S. president since Abraham Lincoln in seeing his party lose congressional seats in a midterm election.

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — Reacting to the 2010 midterm elections November 2 that resulted in the Democratic Party losing control of the House of Representatives, slimming its majority in the Senate and losing some gubernatorial contests, President Obama said American voters had sent a message that they are frustrated with the state of the U.S. economy and acknowledged he had not made as much progress as he had hoped on several domestic concerns.

“Over the last two years, we’ve made progress. But clearly, too many Americans haven’t felt that progress yet, and they told us that yesterday. And as president, I take responsibility for that,” Obama said at a November 3 White House press conference.

He said voters had used their votes to voice frustration with the pace of U.S. economic recovery, job growth and improvements in their standard of living, and that he had not made the progress he had hoped on issues such as reforming earmarks that determine where government spending is directed, moving the United States toward energy independence, and cooperation with congressional Republicans.

“As I reflect on the results of the election, it underscores for me that I’ve got to do a better job, just like everybody else in Washington does,” the president said.

Expressing willingness to compromise with the new Republican majority in the House, Obama said he hopes that a shared interest in improving the U.S. economy and encouraging job growth will cause both parties to “act responsibly.”

Experts have argued the U.S. government can still produce results when different parties control the White House and Congress, even if there are still intense conflicts between them. According to data compiled by a website specializing in these elections (see U.S. Midterm Elections), Obama is confronting midterm election losses that have been faced by most of his predecessors. Since 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln’s Republican Party lost three House of Representatives seats, every president has lost seats in the House with only four exceptions: Theodore Roosevelt in 1902, Franklin Roosevelt in 1934, Bill Clinton in 1998, and George W. Bush in 2002.

But both Clinton and Bush had to come to terms with midterm election losses in 1994 and 2006, respectively. President Clinton’s initial reaction to Democratic defeats in 1994 was to voice acceptance, but also to stand by accomplishments his administration had made.

“With the Democrats in control of both the White House and the Congress, we were held accountable,” Clinton said the day after the November 8, 1994, vote. “I don’t believe the American people were saying, ‘We’re sorry the deficit has been reduced; we’re sorry the size of government has been reduced; and we’re sorry you’ve taken a tough stand on crime; we’re sorry you’re expanding trade.’”

Policy differences between Clinton and the new Republican congressional leadership led to a failure to agree on legislation to fund the operations of the U.S. federal government. This caused the government to shut down for about three weeks between November 1995 and January 1996.

But Clinton also reached across the aisle to work with Republicans, resulting most significantly in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 that reformed the U.S. welfare system.

When President Bush saw his party lose control of Congress in 2006, he abandoned controversial plans to overhaul the U.S. Social Security system.

“Race by race, it was close,” Bush said in his initial reaction to the November 7, 2006, midterm losses. “The cumulative effect, however, was not too close. It was a thumping. But nevertheless, the people expect us to work together. That’s what they expect. And … there comes responsibility with victory.”

Obama acknowledged electoral setbacks that were faced by his predecessors and said, “This is something that I think every president needs to go through” to reconnect better with American voters.

“I’m not recommending for every future president that they take a shellacking like … I did last night,” he said. “But I do think that … this is a growth process and an evolution.” He said he anticipates he will have “more ups and downs” with the American people during the course of his presidency.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)