Obama: 'I've got to take responsibility" for Democratic loss in midter

Days after the Democrats' brutal defeat in the midterm elections, President Obama said Sunday that he takes responsibility for his party's poor performance at the polls."The buck stops right here at my desk," the President said in an interview on CBS' Face the Nation. "And so whenever -- as the head of the party -- it doesn't do well, I've got to take responsibility for it."Ahead of the election, Obama's approval rating was at presidential low, with more than half of all Americans saying they disapproved of the job the President was doing and only 41% saying they approved.Vulnerable candidates in key battleground states made efforts to distance themselves from the commander-in-chief, with some publicly condemning his policies and others refusing his surrogacy on the campaign trail.Reflecting on what he could have done differently and what he will change moving forward, Obama says he will work harder to become a better salesman."I think that one thing that I do need to constantly remind myself and my team of is it's not enough just to build a better mousetrap. People don't automatically come beating to your door. We've got to sell it," Obama said. "We've got to reach out to the other side and, where possible, persuade.""I think that what you'll see is a constant effort to improve the way we deliver service to customers...experimenting with ways that I can reach out to Republicans more effectively. Making sure that we're reaching out and using the private sector more effectively."Looking back, the President admits that he sometimes struggled to work politics into policy negotiations, a weakness that affected his ability to communicate his positions to members of the opposite party and to the American people."I think there are times -- there's no doubt about it -- where, you know, I think we have not been successful in going out there and letting people know what it is that we're trying to do and why thisis the right direction," Obama said. "So there is a failure of politics there that we've got to improve on."It's a somber moment for the former senator, who will lead his last two years in the Oval Office determining whether or not to veto or sign bills coming from a Republican-led Congress. In retrospect, he now says he is learning to become abetter legislator-in-chief.