President Obama said he needs to improve his ability to work with congressional leaders to pass legislation.
“When you start governing there is a tendency sometimes, for me, to start thinking, ‘As long as I get the policy right, then that’s what should matter.’ And people have asked, ‘What do you need to do differently going forward?’ And I think you do that gut check after every election,” Obama said in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” that aired on Sunday.
Obama said he needs to work on his ability to “sell” his ideas and push his agenda forward.
“And I think there are times, there’s no doubt about it, where, you know I think we have not been successful in going out there and letting people know what it is that we’re trying to do and why this is the right direction. So there is a failure of politics there that we’ve got to improve on,” he said.
The president also claimed some responsibility for his party’s defeat in the midterm elections.
“The buck stops right here at my desk. And so whenever, as the head of the party, it doesn’t do well, I’ve got to take responsibility for it. The message that I took from this election, and we’ve seen this in a number of elections, successive elections, is people want to see this city work,” Obama said.
