Less than a day after the Republicans made historic gains in Congress by riding a tidal wave of voter discontent, President Obama said this afternoon that the result signaled Americans are frustrated with the sluggish pace of economic recovery.
“I think I have to take direct responsibility that we have not made as much progress as we need to make,” he told reporters at the White House.
Obama said he was doing “a whole lot of reflecting” following heavy losses across the country just two years after he took office, a repudiation by voters of the president’s policies.
Obama called the losses a “shellacking” during his hour-long news conference, adding that he’ll work with Republicans on an array of policy issues and help jumpstart the stagnant economy.
BOEHNER: HOPES TO WORK WITH OBAMA
PHOTOS: OBAMA DISCUSSES DEMS’ LOSSES
“We just want to see what works. Ultimately, I will be judged as president on the bottom line — results,” he said.
The GOP now control 240 House seats — a gain of 66 seats — compared to just 185 held by Democrats.
Despite huge gains in the House, the GOP will not seize power in the Senate following wins by Democratic Leader Harry Reid and a handful of others relegating Republicans to minority status until at least 2012.
In the Senate, Democrats control 51 seats, while the GOP have 46, a gain of five seats.
The GOP are in a strong position to win control of the Senate in two years, when Democrats will be forced to defend 23 seats compared with just 10 for Republican incumbents.
House Republican Leader John Boehner, who is poised to succeed Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, choked up as he addressed a jubilant crowd on Tuesday night, saying his party’s success to a popular rejection of big government.
“It’s clear tonight who the winners really are, and that’s the American people,” Boehner said. “Across the country right now, we are witnessing a repudiation of Washington, a repudiation of big government and a repudiation of politicians who refuse to listen to the American people.”
Republicans have said they want to repeal Obama’s massive health-care insurance overhaul — something Obama repeated was “the right thing to do.”
“I’m happy to consider some of those ideas,” he said when asked about tinkering with the new law.
But Boehner vowed to fulfill his party’s “pledge” to cut spending and reduce the size of government, saying he’s willing to work with the president if he “respects the will of the people.”
In a news conference earlier today, Boehner was joined by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who headed the GOP campaign organization that helped gain 10 governorships, and repeated his claim that his party will cut spending and create jobs.
Obama, at his news conference, agreed, saying, “I am very eager to sit down with members of both parties and figure out where we can move forward.”
The Bush tax cuts that will expire at the end of the year unless Congress decides otherwise is the next big issue both sides will have to decide on in the coming weeks.
Obama has sought to make all of them permanent — except for families making more than $250,000 a year or individuals making $200,000 a year — while Republicans want to preserve them for every tax bracket.
The White House has said that preserving the cuts would add $700 billion over 10 years to the deficit.
“I don’t think that tax cuts alone are going to be a recipe for the kind of expansion that we need,” he said.