All of the talk in the media about Obama compromising, or moving to the center, or learning how to bring the two sides together.... it's all a bunch of baloney. If you were to search America, you probably could not find any single person who is more a product of the thuggish Democrat political machine than William Daley. When informed of the challenge facing Obama with a Republican-controlled House, Daley reportedly asked to be taken there immediately, so that he could get some pictures and send them to his kids in Chicago, who had never seen a Republican.
Barack Obama appoints William Daley as chief of staff
Recruitment of William Daley, a JP Morgan Chase executive for seven years, lends White House a more business-friendly face
William Daley, centre, with Barack Obama in 2008. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Barack Obama has begun an overhaul of his inner circle, lending the White House a more business-friendly face with the appointment of an outsider banker, William Daley, as his chief of staff.
Daley continues the heavy Chicago bent of Obama's White House. He is a son of the legendary Chicago mayor Richard Daley and brother of the city's outgoing mayor, also named Richard. But he marks a departure for the president after two years in office by dint of his considerable Wall Street experience.
The new chief of staff has for the past seven years been a senior executive at JP Morgan Chase, and before that worked for a hedge fund and in telecoms. He straddles the business-politics divide, having been Bill Clinton's commerce secretary for three years from 1997 and managed Al Gore's failed run for the presidency in 2000.
Daley's appointment was seen as a signal of Obama's intention to change political tack after receiving a drubbing in the midterm elections in November. The president now faces a resurgent Republican party which on Wednesday took control of the House of Representatives.
Daly, who brings with him an outsider's perspective and minimal ideological baggage, may help Obama to bridge the party divide more successfully than he has to date.
Speculation about Daley's appointment was rife since he made a quiet visit to the White House yesterday. Several news outlets reported that the job had been offered and accepted.
The chief of staff position is the highest profile in a number of posts to be filled as Obama works his way through a post-midterm round of musical chairs. Pete Rouse, who has been standing in as acting chief of staff for the last few months following the departure of Rahm Emanuel, who is running for Daley's brother's job of Chicago mayor, will be made a senior adviser to Obama. Rouse made it clear that he did not want the role of chief of staff in the first place.
David Plouffe, who was a leading figure in Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, is expected to join the White House next week to take over from David Axelrod, who is returning to Chicago to spearhead Obama's re-election bid in 2012.
The other sensitive post remaining to fill is that of Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, who yesterday announced he would be stepping down next month.
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