Obama blames Massachusetts Senate loss on middle-class economic pain [View All]

[liberal N proud]

By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 21, 2010

President Obama on Wednesday blamed the Democrats' stunning loss of their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate on his administration's failure to give voice to the economic frustrations of the middle class, a disconnect that White House aides vowed to quickly address as they continue to work to advance the president's agenda.

Obama said the relentless pursuit of his domestic policies -- and a failure to adequately explain their virtues -- had left Americans with a "feeling of remoteness and detachment" from the flurry of government actions in Washington.

"We were so busy just getting stuff done and dealing with the immediate crises that were in front of us that I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values," he told ABC's George Stephanopoulos.

The admission came as the president's top aides sought to come to terms with political disaster in the aftermath of the GOP's Senate victory in Massachusetts. The surprise outcome -- Republican Scott Brown took the seat of the late Democrat Edward M. Kennedy in the heavily Democratic state -- prompted crowing among GOP leaders and finger-pointing and recrimination among the president's allies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/20/AR2010012001935.html?wpisrc=newsletter