Republican blow to Obama presidency

Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry kisses his wife Anita at his victory party after the US mid-term
12 April 2012

President Barack Obama is on a political collision course with his opponents after Republicans made sweeping election gains and vowed to undo some of his major policies.

Top of their agenda was the president's cherished and hard-fought healthcare reforms.

The mid-term voting results delivered a stinging blow to Mr Obama and saw his Democrats lose control of the House of Representatives, although they kept a majority in the Senate.

The result reflected Americans' anxiety about their livelihoods and anger about the economy. The outcome was the House's biggest party turnover in more than 70 years.

Mr Obama now faces the potential for legislative gridlock that could stall his agenda in the final half of his term. Even with the Democrats in control of both chambers of Congress, he spent his first two years battling to pass legislation.

In a news conference tonight Mr Obama took some responsibility for the election thrashing.

He acknowledged that the public was 'deeply frustrated' with the pace of the economic recovery and said one lesson from the results was that he had not made enough progress in creating jobs.

"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.

And although he said he would listen to Republican ideas to improve the health care system he would not scrap his changes to it.

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