A chastened President Barack Obama signaled a willingness to compromise with Republicans on tax cuts and energy policy Wednesday, one day after his party lost control of the House and suffered deep Senate losses in midterm elections."... because I won."
Obama ruefully called the Republican victories "a shellacking."
"This is a teachable moment."
At a White House news conference, the president said that when Congress returns, "my goal is to make sure we don't have a huge spike in taxes for middle class families." He made no mention of his campaign-long insistence that tax cuts be permitted to expire on upper-income families, a position he said would avoid swelling the deficit but put him in conflict with Republicans.
"My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it."
He also virtually abandoned his legislation -- hopelessly stalled in the Senate -- featuring economic incentives to reduce carbon emissions from power plants, vehicles and other sources.
"We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us."
"I'm going to be looking for other means of addressing this problem," he said. "Cap and trade was just one way of skinning the cat," he said, strongly implying there will be others.
"Republican's can come along for the ride, but they've got to sit in the back."
In the campaign, Republicans slammed the bill as a "national energy tax" and jobs killer, and numerous Democrats sought to emphasize their opposition to the measure during their own re-election races.
"I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar, we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."
The president opened his post-election news conference by saying voters who felt frustrated by the sluggish pace of economic recovery had dictated the Republican takeover in the House.
"I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money."
Asked to reflect on the returns, he said, "I feel bad," adding that many Democrats who went down to defeat had done so knowing they risked their careers to support his agenda of economic stimulus legislation and a landmark health care bill.
"The campaign's over, John."
The president said he was eager to sit down with the leaders of both political parties "and figure out how we can move forward together."
"I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
"It won't be easy," he said, noting the two parties differ profoundly in some key areas.
"The Cambridge police acted stupidly."
One controversial issue, the president said he saw a possibility that Congress might agree to overturn the military's ban on openly gay service members when lawmakers return to the Capitol for a post-election session later this month.
"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today -- our sense of patriotism is particularly strong."
The election was a humbling episode for the once-high-flying president, and the change showed during his news conference. Largely absent were his smiles and buoyant demeanor, replaced by somberness and an acknowledgment that his policies may have alienated some Americans.
"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
"I think people started looking at all this, and it felt as if government was getting much more intrusive into people's lives than they were accustomed to," he conceded. But he wasn't talking surrender either.
"Change will not come if you wait for some other person or some other time. I am the one you've been waiting for. I am the change that you seek."
He sought to tread a careful line, suggesting he would cooperate with Republicans where it was possible and confront them when it was not.
"In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died -- an entire town destroyed."
"No one party will be able to dictate where we go from here," he said, a clear warning to Republicans that he won't simply bow to their demands for a sharply conservative switch in economic policy.
"How's it going, Sunshine?"
