President Barack Obama often cites numbers like these while boasting about his tenure in the White House: 15 million new jobs, a 4.9 per cent unemployment rate and 74 months of consecutive job growth.

But one number almost always goes unheard: more than 1,030 seats.

That's the number of spots in state legislatures, governor's mansions and Congress lost by Democrats during Obama's presidency.

The statistic reveals an unexpected twist of the Obama years: the leadership of the former community organizer was rough on the grassroots of his own party.

Democrats lost more than 1,030 seats during Barack Obama's presidency, which reveals how his leadership has affected the grassroots of his own party. The President is pictured next to his wife Michelle during this year's Christmas address

Obama's election was heralded as a moment of Democratic dominance. Obama is pictured in 2004 as a then-candidate for the Senate from Illinois

The Democratic Party has languished in Obama's shadow for years and is now searching for itself.

'What's happened on the ground is that voters have been punishing Democrats for eight solid years — it's been exhausting,' South Carolina state Senator Vincent Sheheen said. He lost two gubernatorial campaigns to Nikki Haley, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for ambassador to the UN.

'If I was talking about a local or state issue, voters would always lapse back into a national topic: Barack Obama.'

Obama's election was heralded as a moment of Democratic dominance — the crashing of a conservative wave that had swept the country since the dawn of the Reagan era.

Democrats believed that the coalition of young, minority and female voters who swept Obama into the White House would usher in something new: an ascendant Democratic majority that would ensure party gains for decades to come.

The coalition, it turns out, was Obama's alone.

After this year's elections, Democrats hold the governor's office and both legislative chambers in just five coastal states: Oregon, California, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware. Republicans have the trifecta in 25, giving them control of a broad swath of the middle of the country.

Democrats believed that the coalition of young, minority and female voters who swept Obama into the White House would usher an ascendant Democratic majority. He is pictured in 2004 as a Senate candidate, delivering the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention

Obama (pictured on Christmas Eve in Kailua, Hawaii, with his daughter Malia) has indicated he intends to make partisan politics a bigger piece of his post-presidential life

The defeats have all but wiped out a generation of young Democrats, leaving the party with limited power in statehouses and a thin bench to challenge an ascendant GOP majority eager to undo many of the president's policies.

To be sure, the president's party almost always loses seats in midterm elections. But, according to experts, Obama's tenure has marked the greatest number of losses under any president in decades.

'Obama just figured his important actions on policies like immigration and health care would solidify support, but that hasn't really materialized,' said Daniel Galvin, a political science professor at Northwestern University and the author of a book on presidential party building.

'He's done basically the minimal amount of party building, and it's been insufficient to help the party.'

The president (pictured making Christmas Eve calls to US troops overseas) currently has his highest approval rate since 2009

Obama has acknowledged this publicly only after his party's devastating November losses. He's admitted he failed to create 'a sustaining organization' around the political force that twice elected him to office.

'That's something I would have liked to have done more of, but it's kind of hard to do when you're also dealing with a whole bunch of issues here in the White House,' he said at his year-end press conference.

It is perhaps not surprising that Obama — a politician who promised a post-party era — turned out not to be a party stalwart.

Obama and his aides came into office neither beholden to his party's establishment, nor particularly interested in reinforcing his party's weak spots.

He electrified the 2004 Democratic National Convention with a speech seeking common cause over party differences. Four years later, he defeated Hillary Clinton, the pick of the party insiders, to win the Democratic presidential nomination.

In the White House, Obama's failure to do the typical Washington schmoozing was a constant source of complaint among congressional Democrats. The same was true for his reluctance to endorse down-ballot candidates and inability to parlay Organizing for Action, his grassroots organization, into a significant force.

Aides say Obama (pictured in 2008 as president-elect with his wife in two daughters) will be closely involved in an effort to focus on drawing district lines more in the favor of Democrats

Toward the end of his presidency, Obama (pictured in 2009 signing an executive order closing Guantanamo) stepped in to assist more than 150 state legislative candidates in October and campaigned across the country for Clinton

State parties languished and the Democratic National Committee struggled with dysfunction and debt.

'We built this beautiful house, but the foundation is rotten,' said South Carolina Democratic Chairman Jaime Harrison, a candidate to lead the Democratic National Committee. 'In hindsight we should have looked at this and said, 'Maybe the state parties should be strong.''

Toward the end of his presidency, Obama began doing more, stepping in to assist more than 150 state legislative candidates in October and campaigning across the country for Clinton.

He's indicated he intends to make partisan politics a bigger piece of his post-presidential life. Aides say Obama will be closely involved in an effort to focus on drawing district lines more in the favor of Democrats.

The president's advisers blame the losses on such structural trends. They point to a flood of Republican super PAC dollars and a resurgence of Republican political power in statehouses. That state-level dominance has given Republicans the ability to redraw district lines and created voting rules that could benefit their party for years to come.

Obama's tenure has marked the greatest number of losses under any president in decades, according to experts. He is pictured in 2004 with his wife and two daughters after delivering his acceptance speech as Illinois senator

The Democratic Party has languished in Obama's shadow for years and is now searching for itself. He is pictured in 2009 after addressing business leaders at the White House

The refusal by many Democrats to accept help from Obama in the 2010 and 2014 midterms was also a strategic mistake, they argue.

'Frankly, when people have asked, the president has been more than willing to engage,' Obama's political director David Simas said.

Some Democrats blame Obama for an executive agenda that highlighted social issues — such as transgender rights and access to birth control — over the economic anxiety still felt by many voters.

'The backlash to the Obama presidency was perhaps bigger than any of us really realized,' said Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democratic Network, a Democratic think tank.

'A lot of the story of this election was people feeling like the culture was evolving in a way that made it feel like they were no longer living in the country they grew up in.'

Others are focusing on the one clear truth of the November defeats: what worked for Obama just did not work for this party.