国际英语新闻:Obama Vows to Work With Republican Congress

Throughout the press briefing, which lasted more than an hour, Obama deflected questions about whether he is a lame-duck president and how it feels to be rejected by members of his own party who distanced themselves from during the midterm campaign.
 
Instead, Obama said he was optimistic about America’s future and planned to spend his last two years continuing to work hard for the American people.

Meanwhile, the presumptive Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said he would work with Obama to win approval on international trade pacts and tax reform, and said they agreed in a telephone call to look for issues where they could reach accord.

McConnell said one message of the election was that a politically divided government need not result in continued gridlock in Washington.

"There are a lot of people who believe that just because you have divided government does not mean you do not accomplish anything," he said.

Democrats held 55 of the Senate's 100 seats before Tuesday's congressional elections, but Republicans gained at least seven seats with wins in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia. Three races were still undecided Wednesday.

Republicans also added at least 14 seats in the 435-member House, where they already held 233 seats.  The majority will be the Republicans' biggest since the 1940s.

The results were a stinging rebuff to Obama, who was not on the ballot but said that his policies were.

House Speaker John Boehner said the new Congress would work on energy and jobs legislation that he said Senate Democrats had  been stalling while in control.  He said it was "time for government to start getting results."

With control of Congress, McConnell said Republicans would continue to address disputes with Obama over his signature legislative achievement, health care reform.  Many Republicans view the law as excessive government involvement and have repeatedly called for its repeal.