In an interview with 60 Minutes that aired yesterday, President Obama said that “first and foremost” the election “was a referendum on the economy.”
But, he said, there were other factors at play as well: “I think the Republicans were successful in creating a picture of the Obama Administration as one that was contrary to those common sense Main Street values about the size of government.”
Of health care reform, Obama said that “there is no doubt that it hurt us politically,” and that he wishes he was “more scrupulous in sticking to some of the commitments I made in how to get it done.”
Here’s the full, unedited interview: