This is why bipartisanship is a brilliant political move by Team Obama - the GOP is hosed either way.
If they cooperate, they lose their base, and they're sunk.
If they DON'T, they come across as the Bad Guys, they lose the independents & moderates, and again are sunk.
All Obama has to do is be more inclusive of the Rethugs than Little Lord Pissypants was of the Democrats - that's LAUGHABLY easy, as just saying 2 civil words to them accomplishes that task - and he appears to be the Good Guy Reaching Across The Aisle, which endears him to independents & moderates, who HATE partisan squabbling.
And when the GOP obstructs itself into losing 2-3 more seats in the Senate next year, then Obama can say "I tried and tried - they seem to prefer party politics over the good of the country",and then bring out the steamroller while the GOP fumes from the back bench - at least until they figure out that they put themselves there.