Daley Out as Obama Chief of Staff

Bill Daley, brought in just one year ago to smooth the divisions between Barack Obama's White House and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American businesses, is out. He's headed back to Chicago after what must have been a completely frustrating year in Washington, D.C.

According to a new book out by The New York Times reporter, Jodi Kantor, Daley was at the mercy of Michelle Obama and Valerie Jarrett for big policy decisions. Now in unabashed re-election mode, Barack Obama no longer feels the need to appear as though he is trying to work with anyone who may not support his agenda on Capitol Hill. Obama has decided, in fact, to run against the Republican controlled House of Representatives and ladle out the generous dollops of class warfare at every venture.

Daley resigned the same weekend as this bit from the book leaked:

“When Michelle Obama worked in Mayor Daley’s City Hall in the early 1990s, she was 'distressed' by how a small group of 'white Irish Catholic' families — the Daleys, the Hynes and the Madigans — 'locked up' power in Illinois.

"She particularly resented the way power in Illinois was locked up generation after generation by a small group of families, all white Irish Catholic — the Daleys in Chicago, the Hynes and Madigans statewide.”

Sounds a bit racist, right?

This article points out that Daley was not effective because Obama didn't have his back in disagreements with Jarrett and Mrs. Obama.

Bill Daley is a political pragmatist. He cuts deals. Like his father and his brother, he is not a left-wing ideologue; nor is he a Republican in Democratic clothing.

He is a pro-business Democrat, an increasingly rare breed these days in Washington.

It is rumored that Daley will return to Chicago and work within the Obama re-election campaign.