--- title: State of the Union: Obama Takes Blame for Rancor description: "It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency ." canonical: https://time.com/4178420/barack-obama-change-washington/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-13T05:31:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:04:34.168Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Takes the Blame for Failing to Change Washington og:description: "It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency ." og:url: https://time.com/4178420/barack-obama-change-washington/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10df184c4d3ce533/698878ea5f570f7978b1f2aa/president-barack-obama-state-union-blame.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2648 og:image:height: 1490 og:image:alt: USA - State of the Unioin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Takes the Blame for Failing to Change Washington twitter:description: "It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency ." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10df184c4d3ce533/698878ea5f570f7978b1f2aa/president-barack-obama-state-union-blame.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Takes the Blame for Failing to Change Washington > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 13, 2016 5:31 AM UTC  President Barack Obama delivers the State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. President Barack Obama delivers the State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. Evan Vucci—Press Pool by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 13, 2016 5:31 AM UTC President Obama took the blame for failing to unite the nation, a campaign promise he made in the early days of “hope” and “change,” before the reality of Washington’s rancor stagnated his agenda. During Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, Obama’s last as president, he said one of his major regrets as president is his failure to address the bitter partisanship that’s divided both lawmakers and the nation. “Democracy breaks down when the average person feels their voice doesn’t matter; that the system is rigged in favor of the rich or the powerful or some narrow interest,” Obama said toward the end of his speech. “Too many Americans feel that way right now. It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency — that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better.” Obama admitted perhaps a president with the skills of Abraham Lincoln or Franklin D. Roosevelt could have bridged the divide, but said he will not give up during his last 12 months in office. The statement of regret was issued shortly before a call to action—one Obama has been issuing during the primary campaign season where the partisan divide has been put on full display. Obama said Tuesday that to end the bitterness, America will have to reshape the way it does politics. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4178420/barack-obama-change-washington/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4178420/barack-obama-change-washington/"},"headline":"Obama Takes the Blame for Failing to Change Washington","datePublished":"2016-01-13T05:31:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:04:34.168Z","description":"'It's one of the few regrets of my presidency .'","url":"https://time.com/4178420/barack-obama-change-washington/","keywords":["state of the union","Barack Obama","Obama","President Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10df184c4d3ce533/698878ea5f570f7978b1f2aa/president-barack-obama-state-union-blame.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10df184c4d3ce533/698878ea5f570f7978b1f2aa/president-barack-obama-state-union-blame.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"USA - State of the Unioin","caption":"President Barack Obama delivers the State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016.","creditText":"Evan Vucci—Press Pool","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/state-of-the-union/","name":"state of the union"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4178420/barack-obama-change-washington/","name":"Obama Takes the Blame for Failing to Change Washington"}}]}] ```