I tell you what he didn't say. He said nothing that makes him an effective LEADER. The President, any president, should be a facilitator and leader first, a party man second. He's not the first to really suck at this but he is indeed in that position and this action is required to move forward.
Neither party is going to get exactly what they want. Compromise is needed and the President needs to orchestrate that compromise. Finger pointing and trying to sell this to the American populous isn't the answer and leads to continued stagnation and inaction.
His track record is fairly plain....that man couldn't manage (nor would he genuinely want to)a Burger King without having the employees killing each other. He'd pick the liberal side and watch the place go out of business.