Obama acknowledges failure to change Washington

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama Wednesday acknowledged that he has been unable to change the nature of Washington politics during his first two years in office.

Obama said his administration was focused on revitalising the economy and advancing important legislation, such as reforming the health care and finance systems.

Heading into the campaign, however, Republicans harshly criticised him for pursuing a partisan agenda without sufficiently reaching out to the minority party and by pushing legislation through Congress with only Democratic backing.

“We were in such a hurry to get things done that we didn’t change how things got done,” he said.

Obama pledged in his 2008 campaign to change political practices in Washington and bring a spirit of bipartisanship.