in VOA Special English.A "shellacking"is an especially bad defeat.And that was how President Obamadescribed the elections on Tuesday.His Democratic Partylost control of the Houseof Representatives.The Democrats retookthe House four years agofrom the Republican Party.Now the Republicanswill have a solid majority.And they have narrowedthe Democrats' majority in the Senate.REPORTER: "What does it feel like?"BARACK OBAMA: "It feels bad."Mr. Obama told reportersthe message he heard wasthat voters want morecooperation in Washington.BARACK OBAMA: "What they wereexpressing great frustrationabout is the fact thatwe haven't made enoughprogress on the economy."But that was not how it soundedto Representative John Boehner.The Republican from Ohiois likely to becomethe next House speaker.He says voters wantthe president to change direction.JOHN BOEHNER: "It is pretty clearthe American people want usto do something about cuttingspending here in Washington.And helping to createan environment where weget jobs back in our country."The new Congress opens in January.President Obama is invitingleaders of both partiesto a meeting at the White Houseon November eighteenth.MITCH MCCONNELL: "If the administrationwants cooperation,it will have to beginmove in our direction."Senate Republican leaderMitch McConnell recently saidhis party's top political goalis to make sure Mr. Obamais a one-term president.In a speech on Thursday,the senator noted thathe had been criticizedfor his comments.But he said if the mainlegislative goals of the Republicansare to replace the health care law ...MITCH McCONNELL: " ... to end the bailouts,cut spending and shrink the sizeand scope of government,the only way to do allof those things is to putsomeone in the White Housewho will not veto any of those things."President Obama sayshe is willing to tryany good ideas the Republicanshave for job growth.But he says he is not opento major changesin the health care law.BARACK OBAMA: "I think we'dbe misreading the electionif we thought thatthe American people want to see usfor the next two yearsre-litigate argumentsthat we had over the last two years."John Fortier studies politicsfor the American Enterprise Institute.He says opposition partieshave worked together in the past.JOHN FORTIER: "Divided government-- Congress of one partyor part of the Congress,and a president of the other-- is sometimes very productive."Mr. Fortier says it mightbe harder this time,in part because attention nowturns to the twenty twelvepresidential campaign.He says Republican candidateswill try to appeal toa voting population thathas become more conservative.Four in ten Americanswho voted this week saidthey considered themselvesTea Party supporters.The Tea Party movementheavily supported Republican candidateswho shared its conservative positions.The movement wants limited government,less federal spending and lower taxes.But the Tea Party is made upof many different groups.So the exact number of winningcandidates who share its values is unclear.Media reports differed widely,from about thirty candidatesnationally to more than one hundred.On Friday, the Labor Department saidthe economy gained more thantwo times as many jobs in Octoberas most economists expected.It was the best report since May.Still, the unemployment ratestayed at nine and six-tenthspercent for the third month.President Obama calledthe numbers encouragingbut not good enough.He spoke before leaving for Indiaon the start of his trip to Asia.And that's IN THE NEWSin VOA Special English.