It has been reported that President Barack Obama Monday told powerful Democrats in Atlanta Republicans have yet to offer up "a single, solitary, new idea" to help the American people.

It was the Republican policies of the last decade that got the nation "in such a deep hole" and this fall's midterm elections represent a choice between going forward with his administration's ideas or returning to the ones "that got us into this mess in the first place," the president, who often talks of the need for bipartisanship and to do away with old-time politics, told those attending the Democratic National Committee fundraising event.

Obama said, "Now, understand, it'd be one thing if the Republicans had seen the error of their ways. Right? I mean, if after the rejections of 2006 and 2008, realizing, gosh, look at this big disaster that we caused and taking record surpluses into record deficits and causing all this hardship, we're going to rethink our approach and go out in the wilderness for a while, come back with some new ideas.

He further added, "But that's not what happened. It's not like they've engaged in some heavy reflection. They have not come up with a single, solitary, new idea to address the challenges of the American people. They don't have a single idea that's different from George Bush's ideas, not one.

"Instead, they're betting on amnesia. That's what they're counting on. They're counting on that you all forgot. They think that they can run the okey-doke on you. Bamboozle you."

It has further been reported that he likened it to someone driving a car into a ditch and letting someone else push to get it out, all the while telling them to go faster, that they weren't doing it right and were getting mud on the car, before demanding the keys back once it was back on the road. (With Inputs from Agencies)