My impression has always been somewhat different.
All the talk amongst the McClellanite faction of the officer corps was a recitation of Little Mac's complaints about how absolutely nothing was ever his fault, laying everything at the feet of Lincoln and Stanton "interfering" with his genius level plans.
From things that Reynolds is known to have said, I've always gotten the impression that he was convinced, by McClellan and his sycophants, which were legion, that Lincoln wanted a puppet general who let Washington run strategy and tactics, and Reynolds didn't want anything to do with it, understandably.
But in fact of course we know that this is just another McClellan lie. No one in America was more pleased than Lincoln when Grant took over and starting operating on his own initiative. Abe didn't enjoy having to kick Mac into motion three time a week, but he knew the Union couldn't survive inaction.
It was McClellans excuse-making that gave Reynolds and the rest of the officer corps the idea that Lincoln was trying to run the Army. I strongly suspect that if Reynolds hadn't listened to Mac and his cronies and actually taken the job (if in fact it was offered) and then taken the fight to Lee, as Grant later did, then Lincoln would have given him his way in nearly everything, as he did a year later for Grant.