Obama seeks reprise of Speaker Pelosi

David Jackson | USATODAY

President Obama wants to work with congressional Republicans and all that, but he is also making it clear he wants Democrats to retake control of the U.S. House and re-install Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"My job is to make sure we move the country forward, and I think we can best do that if Nancy Pelosi is speaker of the House once again," Obama said Wednesday night during one of two Democratic fundraisers in Pelosi's hometown of San Francisco.

Obama, who spent the night in the city by the bay, has another pair of fundraisers in the area on Thursday before heading back to Washington.

While Obama outlined an ambitious agenda for his second term -- including gun control, immigration, energy, and climate change -- he also cited the fact that Republicans control half of Congress, the House. The Democrats run the Senate.

The major actions of Obama's first term -- the health care bill, the stimulus, new financial regulations -- came during the first two years, when Democrats controlled both the House and Senate.

Regaining the House is the Democrats' top priority in 2014 congressional elections, and that's why Obama is raising money for Democrats now and in the months ahead.

Speaking to donors in San Francisco, Obama said that "I would love nothing better than an effective, loyal opposition that is willing to meet us halfway and move the country forward," and he pledged to work with Republicans in the meantime.

"But," the president added, "I would be dishonest if I didn't say that it would be a whole lot easier to govern if I had Nancy Pelosi as speaker."