President Obama met with Rev. Al Sharpton at the White House Wednesday one day after suffering a resounding loss in his final set of midterm elections, The Hill reports.
Obama met with Sharpton, NAACP president Cornell Brooks and National Urban League president Marc Morial shortly after Republicans gained their first Senate majority since 2006 and picked up seats in the House of Representatives. The White House claimed that their meeting touched on Obamacare implementation, education and criminal justice.
“The president also highlighted how we are looking forward to working with the leaders over the next two years to advance these and other critical issues facing the country,” said a White House official.
The president does not, however, seem to be looking forward to working with Republican leaders.
As Neil Munro reported, Obama’s press conference Wednesday lacked contrition, any promise to change his policies or improve his contentious relationship with congressional Republican leaders. Obama said that he looks forward to hearing what Republicans have to say — six years into his presidency no less — and made a remark about having John Boehner beat him at golf again.
Obama doubled down on his threat to pass immigration reform through executive order if Congress fails to pass a comprehensive reform bill. Obama said in the past tense that his administration “had the privilege” of leading the United States government and that, “I’m going to squeeze every last little bit of opportunity…administratively” out of his last two years in office.
As Obama enters those last two years, he appears to view his legacy in political terms revolving around what he can still accomplish for the struggling progressive movement.
As Michelle Obama told a black television network before the election, “And for most of the people we are talking to, a Democratic ticket is the clear ticket that we should be voting on, regardless of who said what or did this — that shouldn’t even come into the equation.”