Obama wanted a "grand bargain" with the GOP that would have cut Social Security & veterans benefits by adopting a chained CPI, a different way of calculating cost of living adjustments.

..... the office as a means of pressuring the opposition into enacting the policies he ran on.

A great many Dems criticized Obama after he was sworn in for not utilizing the massive base of support he built up in 2008 to get more of his campaign promises enacted.

Obama pretty much ignored his own base in enacting Obamacare, preferring to rely on the Blue Dogs to appease the conservatives over his own moderate supporters.