that 's an achievable goal .
enlarge image close charles the juiciest passage in the wall street journal ’s behind - the - scenes report on the fiscal cliff negotiations comes when house speaker john a. boehner ( r - ohio ) asks president obama whether he can have the deal he rejected in 2011 .
but the white house does n’t believe that ’s real revenue .
mr. boehner , irritated with the white house , was finding it hard to keep his troops in line as details of his negotiations with mr. obama leaked out .
in truth , talks to secure a big deficit - reduction deal had already broken down monday afternoon in the office of mr. boehner ( r. , ohio ) , a wall street journal reconstruction shows .
washington — congressional leaders and president barack obama called friday for a return to negotiations to avert the so - called fiscal cliff , a day after talks cratered in a very public fashion when republicans abandoned house speaker john boehner 's backup plan .
” president obama , in the brady press briefing room before he left for hawaii : “ in the next few days , i ' ve asked leaders of congress to work towards a package that prevents a tax hike on middle - class americans , protects unemployment insurance for 2 million americans , and lays the groundwork for further work on both growth and deficit reduction .
the white house to let tax increases begin .