White House defends President Obama

• Source: Global Times
• [15:02 November 10 2009]
• Comments

The US White House Wednesday downplayed the loss of the Democratic Party in the Nov. 3 local elections, saying that it was not related to President Barack Obama's administration.

"The data from the gubernatorial races demonstrates that voters went to the polls in those two contests and talked about, and worked through very local issues that didn't involve the president, " said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, referring to elections for Virginia and New Jersey governors on Tuesday, both of which were won by Republican candidates.

However, he admitted that the result of the elections were disappointing, but they still did not reveal any change of level of support for the president.

"If you look at the exit polling, which is pretty clear on this, people went to the polls and voted on local issues not to even register support for or opposition to the president," he said.

"I think voters are concerned about the economy, I don't think the president needed an election or an exit poll to come to that conclusion," Gibbs said.

Xinhua/agencies