“If we’re going to move forward on some of the other things I talked about in the State of the Union … then I’m going to need some more help in Congress,” he said, referring explicitly to climate change, his universal early childhood initiative and $2 trillion in infrastructure spending.

“I would love nothing better than an effective, loyal opposition that is willing to meet us halfway and move the country forward — because that’s what the American people are looking for,” Obama said about the GOP. But he said too many people in the Republican Party feel constrained from working with him because of their own politics. …

But in California, the president referred to his dual roles as president and leader of the Democratic Party. “My job is not simply to occupy the Oval Office. My job is to make sure we move the country forward, and I think we can best do that if Nancy Pelosi is speaker of the House once again,” he said.