I don't get it.
Obama is a strong ideological guy. That ideology is pretty much 180 degrees from what most Republicans believe. So it is their duty to get as little done as possible, is it not?
They know they can't do what they want to, the opposite party has the other house, and the white house, so the only thing they can do is keep the other side from doing it's agenda.
In fact, the measure of their success could be said to be how few new pieces of legislation gets done.
And Democrats are equally reluctant to pass legislation when it is Republican legislation.