Honestly? I disagree with your assessment of Obama's initial agenda v. what we got. All politicians lie to some extent while campaigning, but Obama caved completely to Reid & Pelosi on this.
Look at where he was coming from and who he surrounded himself with at the heart of his circle. A junior Senator, used to taking instructions from the same leader he would now have to oppose, flanked on one side by a senior Senator so immersed in the institution there's no way he could grasp the changeover to the independent Executive and as his "gatekeeper" a House player who was a pro at taking his marching orders from the Speaker and whipping the rank and file.
If they could sell their abortion of a healthcare package who benefited from passing it in such a rush? The White House? Not hardly. Next year would have been most advantageous to Obama, as would a pitched battle with the loons on the extremes in both camps. Something he avoided at Rahm's insistence....Rahm, who answers to Pelosi.
I think to be fair to him he probably opened his eyes to a whole new world upon assuming the presidency as it relates to the economy, Iraq, Gitmo and Afghanistan among others....those situations are far more complicated than they appear on the surface and I'm sure there's a lot we don't know. But if addressing the hard stuff and standing up to all comers with a finger in the pie including his own party is beyond him, he's in the wrong office. The Executive should never be an imperial position like the last joker wanted it to be, but it can't be an extension of the Legislative either.
Or maybe I just need more coffee....who knows?