Obama’s Chief of Staff, William Daley To Step Down

Daley announced last October he would be quitting after the 2012 election, but apparently the date has been moved up.

The official announcement will be made at 3:00 est:

William Daley is stepping down as White House chief of staff and budget director Jack Lew is taking over the President Obama’s team as it heads into a tough election year, senior administration officials say.

Daley gave his letter of resignation to the president in a private meeting in the Oval Office last week, recounting the administration’s successes of his one year on the job and saying it was time for him to return to his hometown of Chicago.

Obama plans to announce the change in leadership in a public event Monday afternoon. The official shift will take place at the end of the month, giving Lew time to complete the administration’s budget proposal while Daley leads the team through the crafting of the State of the Union address due in two weeks.

Rush surmised that perhaps he wasn’t radical enough for Michelle.

This report from last June, would appear to support that theory. I suspected his days were numbered after reading this story, last summer: Interesting: WH Chief of Staff Can’t Won’t Defend Obama’s Fiscal Policies:

The Daily Caller reports the startling news:

White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley took heat from business executives Thursday for the Obama administration’s regulatory expansions. Daley also said he didn’t have any good answers for some of what President Obama is doing and expressed frustration about the “bureaucratic stuff that’s hard to defend.”

“Sometimes you can’t defend the indefensible,” Daley said at a National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) meeting.

WHD’s Keith Koffler notes:

The confrontational posture the White House has adopted toward the House Republicans as the campaign season heats up is generally at odds with Daley’s temperament. Daley is a moderate used to working with Republicans and the business community, and the White House has in recent months tacked decidedly left.

There has also been some reporting on the failure of Obama and Daley to establish much of a personal bond. Staffers also complained that Daley’s style was too top-down for their tastes, pointing to annoyances like Daley’s tendency to close the door to his office and work alone.

UPDATE:

At Michelle Malkin’s, Doug Powers reports what I believe may be a scoop:

Rumor going around the Hill is that other White House officials asked Daley to play the part of the Mad Hatter at this year’s Alice in Wonderland party because Johnny Depp was unavailable, and he got offended.

Predicted last August:

…what I will say is that those are two of the three tactics we are engaging in against Barack Obama’s re-election – continuing to push Eric Holder out of the DOJ, securing a primary challenger, and the other thing…it relates to a staffing issue. The loss of a critical member of the Obama staff. A resignation that will further the growing perception that the Obama White House is a place of internal disarray– which it absolutely is. And this event will also be a signal to those in the Democratic Party that Barack Obama’s re-election is not in their best future interests. It is time we cut our losses and begin the rebuilding process sooner rather than later.

Rasmussen reported, last week, that since Obama was elected 21% OF DEMS HAVE LEFT PARTY.

According to the latest Rasmussen Poll, 21% — more than one in five — Democrats have abandoned the Party since Obama’s election as president. While most have become Independents, identification with the Republican Party has also risen not only since 2008 but also even since the GOP’s 2010 victory.

Linked by Michelle Malkin, and Hyscience, thanks.