Considering what he’s had to deal with I find it hard to pigeon hole Obama one way or another. He is first and foremost a pragmatic man. What can be done under current conditions as opposed to what he would do given a supportive Congress. It’s possible he wanted badly to take apart the big banks and perp walk those who were instrumental in the economic meltdown but knew it would unlikely be successful AND be at the expense of other programs like the ACA he felt were more important.

Hopefully he’ll write memoirs that answer the questions.