White House says Boehner balked over taxes, not entitlements - Sam Youngman

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/170553-white-house-says-boehner-balked-over-taxes-not-entitlements

The White House gets its message out quickly. Obama's floating of the possibility that Social Security and Medicare were on the table may have been a calculated risk, knowing the Republicans would refuse under the threat of taxes being raised.

Here the message is that the White House tried but failed because the GOP would not raise taxes on the wealthy Americans, plus they want to shut down Medicare. If the message sticks and gains traction, and I've not heard anything from Boehner to run against this horse, it will be effective.