Interview With Steve Kroft on CBS' "Early Show"

KROFT: There is this feeling, particularly among people who are among your most ardent supporters --

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

KROFT: -- who feel a little disappointed, that they think that you've lost your mojo --

THE PRESIDENT: [laughs]

KROFT: -- that you've lost your ability, that touch you had during the campaign --

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

KROFT: -- to inspire and lead. And, you know, everybody in Washington writes about the sort of aloofness that you have. And I'm sure that drives you crazy.

How do you respond to that? How do you -- you know, the argument is -- people have made the argument you lost control of the narrative. You've let other people define you, that you haven't sold your successes well enough.

THE PRESIDENT: I think that's a fair argument. You know, I think that, over the course of two years, we were so busy and so focused on getting a bunch of stuff done that we stopped paying attention to the fact that, you know, leadership isn't just legislation, that it's a matter of persuading people and giving them confidence and bringing them together and setting a tone and making an argument that people can understand.

And I think that we haven't always been successful at that, and I take personal responsibility for that. And it's something that I've got to examine carefully as I go forward.