While declaring he would refuse to dismantle his health care plan, Obama also signaled on Wednesday that he would seek common ground with the GOP Congress, down to having a drink with likely new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and playing golf with House Speaker John Boehner.

One of the biggest complaints, by Blunt and other GOP leaders, was that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid bottled up legislation to protect Senate Democrats from difficult votes, and that Obama was aloof and uncompromising. As a result, the Senate was gridlocked from doing even basic things such as passing a budget.

Democrats said McConnell was intransigent and foot-dragging in the minority and had a stated goal of using the Senate to stop Obama’s agenda. Now the question is whether Democrats will assume that role in the Senate minority and how Republican leaders, including Blunt, respond.

“There will be a lot of people watching to see how well the Senate functions under Republican leadership,” said Peverill Squire, a political scientist at the University of Missouri. “Certainly the Democrats have an opportunity to obstruct along the lines of how the Republicans did. We will see how the Republicans will work toward more compromise.”