That\u2019s what his top spokesman told Newsmax Friday in response to our question about the numerous news stories pointing out that Democrats lost 1,030 offices \u2014 U. S. Senate and House seats, governorships, and state legislative offices \u2014 during the Obama presidency.
Noting that several reports conclude that this is the largest loss of offices for a party while it held the White House in modern history, we asked how the President felt about it.
\u201cI think it\u2019s always important to evaluate the context of those numbers,\u201d replied White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, \u201cand one important piece of context is simply that there was an historic wave that entered office at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 of Democratic elected officials who benefitted from President Obama being at the top of the ballot in 2008.
\u201cSo when we’re talking about those kinds of numbers, it\u2019s important to recognize that those numbers got built up in the first place because of President Obama\u2019s political success in winning the White House the first time.\u201d
But Earnest also admitted that the President \u201chas been disappointed, particularly with regard to this most recent election that a lot of good Democratic elected officials, public servants didn’t succeed at the ballot box.\u201d
As Obama sees it, according to Earnest, there is a need for Democrats \u201cto express their view persuasively in communities all across the country, and that certainly is part of the challenge that President Obama is going to spend some time thinking about as a former President.\u201d
We\u2019ve got the values right, we\u2019ve got the policy prescriptions right, but we just need to go and make the argument. And the President is confident that if and when Democrats do that, there are important gains for the party and for the country that lie ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n