instrumental if speaker boehner puts something on the floor. he was shoring up to make sure president obama kept his deal. overall, the short-term extension of the debt ceiling, the short-term funding of the government, these are acceptable to the white house. the president wants longer. but certainly when it comes to the debt ceiling that is preferable to default at this point. i think it is interesting, you see two officials here -- well, doesn't this put us right back in the same place here in a couple of months? and their calculus, it has been so damaging to republicans, polls show how hard they have been hit. they think that republicans are nor not going to want to battle it out in the same way because it was so damaging. >> it was supposed to be a non-starter when these negotiations started. is the white house willing to back off that position? >> this is interesting,