Obama blames economy for losses, says he gets ‘discouraged’ but is resilient

From the Hill…..

President Obama blamed a sluggish economy for heavy Democratic electoral losses on Sunday’s “60 Minutes.”

“I think first and foremost, [the election] was a referendum on the economy. And the party in power was held responsible for an economy that is still underperforming and where a lot of folks are still hurting,” said the president.

Asked whether he accepted Republicans’ claim that the election sends a clear message that Americans’ want smaller government, Obama said, “I think that first and foremost, they want jobs and economic growth in this country.”

Giving his first in-depth interview since a disastrous election day for Democrats, a downbeat Obama focused on his role in the electoral defeats.

The president accepted he should be held accountable for the state of the economy. “So, what you had was the economy continuing to get worse in the first several months of my administration, before any of our economic policies had a chance to be put into place,” he said. “Appropriately, I’m held accountable for that.”

He also admitted to being discouraged by the lack of economic growth, saying, “I do get discouraged, I mean, there are times where I thought the economy would have gotten better by now.”

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