Obama Says He’s Responsible For Democratic Election Loss, Says He Will Not Rule Out More Middle East Troops In ISIS Fight
President Barack Obama admitted to Face the Nation anchor Bob Schieffer this morning that Tuesday’s thumping at the polls was an Obama election loss.
The admission came during a long discussion on politics, the Middle East, and the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Regarding the midterm election thumping, Obama’s election losses were hard to avoid.
“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. And they feel as if it’s not working.”
Obama’s election loss was not the only thing he took credit for, admitting that he could possibly be to blame for the problems and gridlock on Capitol Hill in recent years.
“They see Washington gridlocked and they’re frustrated. And they know one person in Washington and that’s the president of the United States. So I’ve got to make this city work better for them.”
Even so, the president said he loved politics, and that was why he ran against improbable odds for the office of president of the United States.
“I love this job… Here’s, I think, a fair statement: If your name is Barack Hussein Obama, you had to have liked politics in order to get into this office… I got into politics because I believed I could make a difference, and I would not have been successful and would not be sitting at this desk every day if I didn’t love politics.”
Obama’s election losses and struggles on Capitol Hill were not the only issues discussed. According to Mediaite, the president also discussed the struggle in the Middle East with ISIS, and said he is not completely ruling out sending even more troops at this time.
“As Commander in Chief, I’m never gonna say never… But what the commanders who presented the plan to me say is we may actually see fewer troops over time, because now we’re seeing coalition members starting to partner with us on the training and assist effort… Rather than just try to halt ISIL’s momentum, we’re now in a position to go on some offense… The airstrikes have been very effective in degrading ISIL’s capabilities in slowing the advance that they’re making. Now what we need is Iraqi ground troops that can begin pushing them back.”
Obama’s interview comes the same day West Virginia’s new Republican U.S. Sen.-Elect Shelley Capito called Obama’s nomination of a new attorney general during the lame duck session of Congress a “mistake.”
