The last two years have been all about Barack Obama and nothing else. He barely lifted a finger for Democrats in the midterms. This can be seen in the way that Obama and his White House barely planned for the 2010 midterm elections, which usually go against the party in the White House.
My guess is that he wanted a Republican House to triangulate with so he could get reelected in 2012.
This became perfectly clear when Obama refused to put in place a foreclosure moratorium in the weeks before the election. This is not only good policy, but it would have been good politics. Instead, he sided with Wall Street and refused this common sense policy.
Another was his reappointment of Republican Fed chair Ben Bernanke, who, along with Tim Geithner was instrumental in the financial crash of 2008. He could have appointed someone who would have better grown the money supply in 2010 to help Democrats.
The federal worker pay freeze is another gimmick that is bad policy.
And now the tax cuts. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthy is simply common sense. The economy thrived during the Clinton years under these tax rates and if they are extended, they will be made permanent anyway in a couple of years.
This is all in order to win over independent voters in 2012. The base and rest of the Democratic party be damned.