White House: Obama 'willing to change his tactics' to work with Republicans

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WH: Obama 'willing to change tactics' to work with Congress

Press secretary Josh Earnest: President is focused on finding 'common ground' with GOP to get results voters want

White House press secretary Josh Earnest touted President Obama's willingness to work with a Republican-led Congress, Thursday, in an effort to "advance the interests of the American people."

"If there are things that the president can do differently to make sure that we're getting results for middle class families, for the American people, then he's willing to change his tactics to do exactly that," Earnest told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."

"There's things the president's going to do that the Republicans won't agree with. There are bills that Republicans are going to pass that the president doesn't agree with. The question really is, are we going to focus on those disagreements or are we going to focus on those areas of common ground where we can actually work together to make progress?"

Earnest also defended the president's past working relationship with Republicans, noting that Obama played golf with House Speaker John Boehner four years ago and would do so again if needed.

"If that's going to advance our ability to find common ground among Democrats and Republicans, the president will do that as often as is necessary," Earnest said, adding that the same goes for president's quip Wednesday about drinking Kentucky bourbon with future Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"The president is interested in trying to build some relationships with Congress to try and advance some of these priorities."

In response to midterm exit polls highlighting Americans' concerns about U.S. national security, Earnest appealed to the current Congress to unite behind Obama in passing a new Authorization for Use of Military Force in the fight against Islamic militants.

"The American people are supportive of what the president's trying to do to protect the country from extremists that are operating in Iraq and Syria," Earnest said. "What we need now is we need Democrats and Republicans in Congress to get together and show that support for what the president's doing."

Obama will meet Friday with congressional leaders of both parties.

During a press conference on Thursday Boehner urged the president not to use executive action to bypass Congress on the thorny topic of immigration.

"If he acts unilaterally on his own, outside of his authority, he will poison the well and there will be no chance of immigration reform moving in this Congress," Boehner said.