But outside groups that have long pressed for Mr. Obama to act on his own believe the moment is close at hand. In his State of the Union address last week, the president made a lengthy plea to “fix our politics,” specifically calling for reducing the role of money in campaigns and denying “hidden interests” the ability to bankroll elections.

The discussions are intensifying at a time when Mr. Obama has made it clear that he is looking for expansive ways to use his executive power before leaving office.

“We’ll do audacious executive action throughout the course of the year — I’m confident about that,” Denis R. McDonough, his chief of staff, told reporters the morning after Mr. Obama’s speech. He added that the president had informed his staff that the central question he would be asking himself about potential actions was, “Why not?”

“We’re going to lean pretty hard into it,” Mr. McDonough said.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has been among the advocates for the move, officials and advocates said. Administration aides said that top White House officials, including David Simas, who leads Mr. Obama’s political team, and W. Neil Eggleston, the White House counsel, were weighing the move but had not yet reached a decision.

Still, proponents heard last week’s speech as a signal that a president who came to office promising to transform politics and has often called for campaign reforms — but has never used his authority to force them — was ready to act more aggressively.

“This issue of dealing with the systemic problem of money in politics is outrageously popular, and there’s no rational reason for the administration to be presiding over an approach of do-nothingness — it has been a huge disappointment,” said Lisa Gilbert, the director of Public Citizen. “We took this loud call to action in the State of the Union as a signal that they are changing course.”

Mr. Obama has “not yet done the simple thing that he can do,” Ms. Gilbert said, referring to the executive order, adding that last week’s speech was “finally an acknowledgment that this is not the legacy that he wants on this issue.”