Emanuel: Washington dysfunction hurts Obama

(CBS News) Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on "CBS This Morning" Wednesday that dysfunction in Washington was partly to blame for voters' loss of confidence in President Obama and that Americans are "clearly better off" than they were when the president was elected in 2008.

Mr. Obama's former chief of staff told Norah O'Donnell and Charlie Rose that he agreed that one of the challenges the president faces was to convince voters not to take America in a different direction by electing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. But Emanuel disagreed with the Romney campaign's recent push that Americans aren't better off than they were four years ago.

"They're clearly better off in the sense of where we were as an economy," Emanuel said.

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Still, Emanuel recognized that voters have reasons for losing confidence in Mr. Obama, but not that the president was at fault.

"One part is their own economic security, and that's normal because they are still struggling, and we're going through a huge transition on that," said Emanuel. "Second is the fact that Washington seems more dysfunctional as the day goes on, and it's hard to argue with that assessment."

Watch Emanuel's full interview, including discussion of President Obama's relationship with Democratic predecessor Bill Clinton, in the video player above.