stoddard, ryan lizza and maeve reston.t's not unusual for midterm elections to be difficult for presidents -- for the president's party. especially when the president is a lame duck. i want you to take a listen to what president george w. bush said after his election night in 2006 at this same point in his presidency. >> this is a close election. if you look at race by race, it was close. the cumulative effect, however, was not too close. it was a thumping. >> it was a thumping. so first i'm going to start with a.b. is president obama even more of a lame duck than usual? or is this just how it goes at the end of a long presidency? >> well, president obama, i think by his own definition, certainly by the definition of those in his party, has had a very successful first four years, i would say, in office because of the sweeping legislation he was able to pass. he so he will be down in the history books as maybe the last president for a while who will be able to move a congress to pass broad sweeping legislation. >> but my qu