Obama assumes responsibility for Democrats defeat

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday blamed the anemic economy for the "shellacking" his fellow Democrats experienced in this week's midterm elections, but he acknowledged his policies hadn't done enough to bring down high unemployment, CNN reports.

His administration has "stabilized" the economy and spurred private-sector hiring. "But people all across America aren't feeling that progress," Obama said in a news conference the day after Republicans seized majority control of the House and whittled down the Democratic majority in the Senate.

He called the results a "shellacking" for him and said: "I've got to take direct responsibility for the fact that we have not made as much progress as we need to make."

The President also said he intends to meet with congressional leaders from both parties "in the next few weeks" to negotiate a compromise on extending the Bush-era tax cuts scheduled to expire by the end of the year.