Boehner supports raising taxes no matter what he calls it or how he spins it.
Lets put this into prospective.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of various interest groups within each state who are discussing matters with their senator (either Republican or Democrat). Most are a bit worried because this isn’t a great method of fixing the debt problem (a controlled method is the desire of most folks).
So the President and his agenda team may desire the cliff-method....but I suspect that half of the Democrats in the Senate are bound and determined to conclude this mess before Christmas and will tell Harry Reid of internal negotiations shortly. I don’t think Harry can control the President’s agenda, and in fact....he might be under a fair amount of pressure from his own state to hustle up a real solution here.
The President may think he’s got everyone lined up....but some Democratic senators are running for office in 2014, and really don’t want this as a reminder in their campaign. You won’t win votes with a happy face and a fiscal cliff as an accomplishment.