Obama to Democrats: Don’t ‘Play It Safe’

President Obama urged Democrats not to be defeatist about the loss of their supermajority in the Senate, declaring: “If anyone is searching for a lesson from Massachusetts, I promise you, the answer is not to do nothing.”

In an appearance today at a retreat for Senate Democrats, the president reminded his former colleagues that they still held one of the party’s largest majorities in Senate history. While he implored Congress to press forward on health care legislation, he said initiatives to create jobs should also take priority.

Mr. Obama sought to lift the spirits of Democrats who are facing a difficult political climate in this midterm election year. But he warned against retreating from pursuing their priorities, saying: “I think the natural political instinct is to tread lightly, keep your head down and to play it safe.”

“We’ve got to finish the job on health care. We’ve got to finish the job on financial regulatory reform,” he said. “We’ve got to finish the job, even though it’s hard.”

The president then took questions from the Democrats – similar to last week’s exchange with House Republicans in Baltimore – but there were few hints of disagreement between the Senate and the White House.

The traditional rules of seniority were set aside, so the senators with some of the most difficult races in the fall were called on to speak first, including: Senators Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Barbara Boxer of California and Evan Bayh of Indiana.

If Congress delivered results, Mr. Obama said, “I’m confident that politics in 2010 will take care of themselves.”

The session at the Newseum, which sits along Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol building, took on the feeling of a Democratic pep rally. He referred to his session with Republicans last week, saying: “I’ve got to admit I had a little fun.”

The president dismissed criticism from Republicans that Democrats have not considered their ideas, particularly in the health care debate. His tone against Republicans was particularly sharp.

He singled out Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who leads the Finance Committee, for his efforts to negotiate with Republicans last summer on health care. He did not say that the delay accompanying those negotiations was one of the factors that probably contributed to the demise of health care, which many of his aides believe.

“We considered hundreds of Republican amendments,” Mr. Obama said. “When I start hearing that I should accept Republican ideas, let’s be clear, we have. What hasn’t happened is the other side accepting our ideas.”

He added, “I also made it clear that we’ll call them out when they say they want to work with us, and we extend a hand and get a fist in return.”

David M. Herszenhorn contributed to this post.