Obama takes ‘some responsibility’ for loss of Dem seats

by Rebecca Savransky - 01/08/17 9:06 AM ET

President Obama in an interview broadcast Sunday accepted some of the blame for the Democratic Party’s loss of seats in the House, Senate, governorships and state houses during his time in office.

“I take some responsibility on that,” the president told ABC’s “This Week.”

“I think that some of it was circumstances.”

Obama said he came into office in the middle of one of the worst financial crises since the Great Depression.

{mosads}”And unlike FDR who … didn’t take office until about three years into the Great Depression, it was happening just as I was elected,” Obama said.

“I think we did a really good job in saving this economy and putting us back on the track of growth.”

But, he added, there were still a lot of people who were out of work in 2010.

2024 Election Coverage

“There were a lot of folks who had lost their homes or saw their home values plummet, their 401(k)s plummet,” Obama said.

“And we were just at the beginnings of a recovery. And the, you know, whoever is president at that point is gonna get hit and his party’s gonna get hit,” he continued.

“That then means that suddenly you’ve got a redistricting in which a lot of state legislatures are now Republican. They draw lines that give a huge structural advantage in subsequent elections.”

The president added, however, that the Democratic Party needs to begin to rebuild itself at the ground level.

“We’ve got to do a better job of showing up,” Obama said.

“And I was able to do that when I was the candidate. But … I’ve not seen or presided over that kind of systematic outreach that I think needs to happen.”

Tags Sunday shows