There is of course a tendency, for an individual or political party in a position of power to want to try and hang on to that power. What may be more important to remember, as we live in a democratic republic, is that the real power is in the hands of voters and our citizenry ... if they actually make USE of that power.
After losing Congress to the GOP during the mid-term election of 1994, Democratic President Bill Clinton reached out to new Speaker Newt Gringrich (R-GA), to craft several pieces of more centrist legislation, including Welfare/Workfare reform, which resulted in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and other programs that Clinton had not championed earlier in his first term. He would be re-elected in 1996, by a wider margin than his first victory.