It's the Economy Mr. President

Despite vigorous campaigning by the President on behalf of various Democratic candidates around the country, Democrats still suffered significant losses in the House of Representatives.

In a show of disapproval for President Obama's policies and governing style, American voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots for Republican candidates resulting in a net gain of more than 50 seats in the House.

Democrats and even the President expected to lose some seats but nothing like the avalanche that occurred on November 2, 2010.

The outcome of the election sent President Obama a very loud and clear message: the people of America were not satisfied.

During his time in office President Obama has managed to get several key pieces of legislation passed including health care and financial reform along with economic stimulus legislation that arguably kept the nation from suffering another possible depression. But none of his accomplishments seemed to appease the American people.

These legislative victories, no matter how good or necessary, did not trump Americans' angst about the condition of the economy and the rate of unemployment that grips the country.

Although President Obama was aware of Americans' distress over the state of the country's financial condition, he greatly underestimated how distressed they were.

A mistake that produced a devastating outcome.

For months Republicans made the case that Americans were most concerned about the jobless rate in America and even though President Obama acknowledged this sentiment, he failed to act on it with any gravity and he paid a heavy price for that perceived lack of concern.

It should be no mystery to the president that Americans are most concerned about the economy. After all, he talks about it all the time. But talking about it and doing something about it are two different things.

Americans don't want understanding, they want results.

There are millions of Americans who have been out of work for months. Some for years. And they are desperate to find work and get back to providing for their families.

I voted for President Obama. I think he is a good man who is sincere and has a real concern for the welfare of the American people. His mistake was in assigning the wrong priority to the issues facing America.

Yes we needed healthcare reform. We also desperately needed financial reform but probably not before putting America back to work.

I think President Obama gets it now. Unfortunately he had to lose control of the House of Representatives to come to that understanding.

Mr. President, it is and always will be the economy.