And this seems to fly in the face of basic negotiating tactics. Recall that it's the goal - the win condition - for Republicans when they can prevent the President from taking any action whatsoever. A failed or vetoed bill is a Republican win. So when the President says "it's either my way or no way", he's basically giving Republicans a simple choice: hand the President a win that costs Republicans at the polls, or easily achieve everything they want. Wow, I wonder which one they would take?
Republicans also considered it a win when the country suffered because bills were not being passed. They saw a failing country as a failing Obama, so they went out of their way to help the country fail.
You've allowed conservative complaints about "radical Socialism" and "social engineering" to color your recollection of a campaign that was, overwhelmingly, about pragmatic solutions to our problems. Obama never promised a radical reimagining of the American health care system, because he's always known that such a thing would be impossible.
In a twist of fate, Obama's ideas on national health insurance reform was nearly identical to the reforms signed into law by Romney in Massachusetts. Obama signed a bill that was weaker than the one Romney signed.