Obama: 'I'm Having a Great Time!'

In a Wednesday press conference, President Barack Obama eschewed responsibility for massive Democratic losses in Tuesday’s historic midterm election victory. 

At one point, when answering a reporter’s suggestion that the president should meet with the press more regularly, Obama glibly replied he would enjoy that possibility. 

“I’m having a great time!” said Obama.

Obama shrugged off questions from reporters about whether Tuesday’s midterm election, like the last, represented a “shellacking.” After congratulating Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on well-run GOP campaigns, Obama suggested he would enjoy having some “Kentucky bourbon” with McConnell. 

Obama’s detached demeanor and unaffected tone runs the risk of further angering already fuming Democrats who believe Obama owes them an apology for dragging down vulnerable Democrats locked in tight races. 

“President Obama has stepped in it,” Democratic strategist Christy Setzer told The Hill prior to the election. 

After the Tuesday election results came in, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) blamed Obama for creating the perception among voters that “the government is attacking them, which basically is what’s happening.” Manchin added, “It doesn’t make sense that we have to fight so hard against our own government and our own administration and our President to try to find a balance.”

Privately, Obama’s inner circle says he remains unfazed by Tuesday’s catastrophic election results. 

“He doesn’t feel repudiated,” an Obama aide told the New York Times.

Progressive MSNBC analyst and Huffington Post Washington bureau chief Howard Fineman declared that “the Obama era is over.”