Either some “senior White House officials” were putting out doomed trial-balloon rumors on Obama’s behalf over the weekend or some of them went rogue and were quickly reined in, because Obama seems to have made a point today of shooting down those rumors, and in effect showing the world that he’s not the same person he was in the fall of 2011:

Obama Calls John Boehner, Says He Still Won’t Negotiate

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama called the top Republican in the GOP-controlled House Tuesday, telling Speaker John Boehner once again that he won’t negotiate over reopening the government or must-pass legislation to prevent a U.S. default on its obligations.

In the second week of the partial government shutdown, Obama’s call, revealed by Boehner’s office, came as the speaker softened the tone of his rhetoric in remarks to the media and as Democrats controlling the Senate planned to move quickly toward a vote to allow the government to borrow more money by raising the statutory limit on the federal debt.

The White House confirmed the call and said Obama repeated to Boehner “what he told him when they met at the White House last week: the president is willing to negotiate with Republicans — after the threat of government shutdown and default have been removed — over policies that Republicans think would strengthen the country.”

Obama will have a news conference at 2 PM Eastern — about 45 minutes from now. Click here to watch it live.