Obama takes blame for Democrats' losses in midterm elections: 'We got beat'

President Obama bluntly declared that 'we got beat' in the midterm elections and took responsibility for the Democrats' massive losses.

'The buck stops with me. The buck stops right here at my desk,' Obama said on CBS' 'Face the Nation.' 'Whenever, as the head of the party it doesn't do well, I've got to take responsibility for it.'

Obama defended his policies, but admitted he didn't do enough to sell them to the American people before last Tuesday's elections that gave Republicans control of the Senate.

'There is a failure of politics there,' he said.

'When you start governing, there is a tendency sometimes for me to start thinking, as long as you get the policy right, then that's what should matter,' he said, calling that attitude a mistake politically.

'It's not enough just to build a better mousetrap,' he said. 'We've got to sell it ... There are times, there's no doubt about it, where I think we have not been successful in going out there and letting people know what it is that we're trying to do and why this is the right direction.'

Despite big job gains, Obama said Americans have placed the blame on him for the fact that they're still struggling financially.

'Their wages haven't gone up, their incomes haven't gone up,' he said in the 'Face the Nation' interview. '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.'

Obama reiterated his vow to change immigration policy by executive action, saying he had given House Speaker John Boehner plenty of time to deal with the issue.

'For a year I stood back and let him work on this,' he said of Boehner, who would not allow a vote on an immigration bill passed by the Senate.

'I told him at the time, 'John, if you don't do it, I've got legal authority to make improvements on the system.' I'd prefer, and still prefer, to see it done through Congress. But every day that I wait, we're misallocating resources, we're deporting people that shouldn't be deported, we're not deporting folks that are dangerous and need to be deported.'

MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Ed Rendell also said Sunday the Democrats did a 'piss-poor job' of getting their message out before the election.

'It's the message. We did a lousy job. We did a piss-poor job of giving voters a message,' he said on John Catsimatidis' radio show.

'On almost every major issue, people agreed with us,' he said, but Democrats ran away from their positions instead of embracing them. 'We also have ... a courage gap. We're not proud of the things that we do and the things that we stand for.'

Former Vermont Gov. and presidential candidate Howard Dean backed that view.

'The Republican message was, 'We're not Obama.' No substance whatsoever. 'We're not Obama.' What was the Democrats' message? 'Oh, well, we're really not either.' You cannot win if you are afraid,' he said on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' 'Where the hell is the Democratic party? You've got to stand for something if you want to win.'

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