Obama Dumps Daley

How lewd.

"Obama shakes up inner circle; Daley resigns; Lew takes over as chief of staff" Globe Staff and Wires, January 10, 2012

WASHINGTON — President Obama yesterday tapped his budget chief, Jacob J. Lew, to be his new chief of staff, replacing William M. Daley after a frustrating year in which Daley struggled to find his footing in a ferociously partisan Washington.... 

Related: Obama Banking on a Change in the Chief of Staff

Lew is a well-regarded veteran of the White House budget office, State Department, and Wall Street. His long experience on Capitol Hill, where he served for almost a decade as a top domestic policy adviser for House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip’’ O’Neill Jr., should put him in a better position to improve ties with Congress, officials said.

A graduate of Harvard University and Georgetown University Law School, Lew, 56, has served in a series of high-level positions over a three-decade career and is recognized as one of Washington’s most astute managers. When Obama named him budget director in July 2010, it was the second time he held the position, having served as budget chief in the Clinton administration from 1998 to 2001.

“If there was a Hall of Fame for budget directors,’’ Obama said, “then Jack Lew surely would have earned a place for his service in that role under President Clinton, when he helped balance the federal budget after years of deficits.’’

Indeed, Lew is a rare breed in Washington whose skills and approach are touted on both sides of the partisan divide, even though the Queens native volunteered as a teenager for the presidential campaign of Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota, a liberal darling and anti-Vietnam War icon.

Amid the deep rancor of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans over the federal budget last summer, he was still able to garner admirers in the GOP....  

Daley, an affable former banker who is the son and brother of legendary Chicago mayors, proved to be an awkward fit on the Obama team. Recruited largely for his deal-making skills and ties to the business world, he failed to help his boss strike a huge budget deal with Republicans in the House.

Following that failed negotiation, which led to months of acrimony between the White House and Congress, some of Daley’s duties were transferred to Pete Rouse, a low-profile former congressional aide with closer ties to the president.

The news of Daley’s departure was first reported by the Chicago Tribune.

That Daley was frustrated by Washington was no secret. In October, he told a Chicago TV station that he planned to leave in January 2013, at the end of Obama’s first term. It was not clear what precipitated his decision to leave the White House now.

--more--"