Majority rule

He is clearly acting more freely in a progressive way since he doesn't face anymore elections. He has big majorities for what he is doing.

Those majorities are bigger than the majority the media gives the impression he has. For one thing, the Republicans gerrymandered the House of Rep districts outrageously, really against the basic American democratic principle of majority rule and so fundamentally illegal. So, the whole charade since 2010 , as the main media (not just Fox) presents it , is the Republican House is equal with the President in every damn thing.  The Republican House has brazenly tried to usurp Presidential Executive Power, and CBS, NBC, ABC, don't call em on it. Just report it as the two legitimate sides of national political discourse.  The Republicans are political criminals right now in terms of the fundamentals of American democracy. Anyway, it gives the impression Obama has smaller popular majorities for his policies than he does.