Image via WikipediaPresident Obama, on '60 Minutes,' blames his leadership - Josh Gerstein - POLITICO.comPresident Barack Obama acknowledged a series of errors since taking office, admitting that he misjudged the pace of the economic recovery, that he has sometimes strayed from his campaign promise to change the tone of debate in Washington, and that leadership “isn’t just legislation.”
“We were so busy and so focused on getting a bunch of stuff done that we stopped paying attention to the fact that, yeah, leadership isn’t just legislation, that it’s a matter of persuading people and giving them confidence and bringing them together, and setting a tone,” Obama said in an interview conducted Thursday for airing Sunday on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” “We haven’t always been successful at that, and I take personal responsibility for that. And it’s something that I have to examine carefully as I go forward.”
While Obama stopped short of expressing public regrets about specific policy decisions, he continued the tone of contrition that he set in a televised news conference the day after Tuesday’s midterm elections saw Republicans recapture the House and narrow the Democratic majority in the Senate.
“Part of my promise to the American people when I was elected was to maintain the kind of tone that says we can disagree without being disagreeable. And I think over the course of two years, there have been times where I’ve slipped on that commitment,” the president said. He did not appear to offer specifics.
Asked by correspondent Steve Kroft if it were true, as Republicans have suggested, that the election was a referendum on him and the Democratic Party, Obama replied: “I think first and foremost, it 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.
He acknowledged that he thought the economy would have improved more and that he sometimes feels powerless when it comes to spurring growth.
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