"I don’t like his legislation, but I like the way he is running the House"

For Mr. Boehner, the deal represents an early showcase of negotiating prowess, and an ability to balance the clamor of staunch conservatives in his party, who have little desire to compromise with Democrats, with the political imperative of securing real accomplishments. Even some Democrats said that in a deeply divided Washington, Mr. Boehner’s negotiations over this past chaotic week harked back to a time when party leaders were more willing to give ground and do business with each other.

“I don’t like his legislation, but I like the way he is running the House,” Mr. Reid said in an interview Saturday…

An angry Mr. Obama called Mr. Boehner at 11:15. “He just thought things were going off the rails,” said one White House official said. (Mr. Boehner would later point to the president’s anger in private meetings with his allies, using it as evidence that he was taking a tough line.)

That conversation, Mr. Obama’s aides said, lasted five minutes: “The president said, ‘I’m the president of the United States, you’re the speaker of the House,’ ” one senior White House official recalled, offering the White House’s view of events. “He said: ‘We’re the two most responsible leaders right now. We had a conversation last night, and what I’m hearing now doesn’t reflect that.’ ”