Does Daley departure mean trouble?
Plus, will Keith Olbermann be his own undoing?
White House chief of staff William Daley is stepping down from his position, POLITICO has learned. Office of Management and Budget director Jack Lew is expected to replace him.
Does this move signify a losing election cycle for the Obama administration? Or might Daley’s departure be a breath of fresh air for the White House?
William Daley’s surprise departure from the White House today shows that 1600 Pennsylvanian Avenue is in complete turmoil.
Replacing William Daley with Jack Lew is like trying to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. President Obama’s presidency has been a complete failure and it is fun to see another Chicagoan looking for a life raft.
Oh give me a break. Daley wasn't a good fit from the start. Staff changes happen all the time. Daley's leaving is not even a ripple, let alone a tempest in a teapot.
President Obama has now had four chiefs of staff in only 16 months. No previous president have ever had more than four, and that includes two-termers. Sounds like a lovely West Wing. However, I doubt we’ll see hundreds of “White House in turmoil” stories, as we may have if this occurred in another administration. Jack Lew is a former Clinton operative that helped craft HillaryCare, and has presided over massive spending and debt increases at the Obama OMB. Hopefully, this isn’t the experience he draws from in his new position.
Does this move signify a losing election cycle for the Obama administration? No, it doesn’t.
The Daley departure marks the end of Obama's attempt to look pro-business, launched a year ago with his much-touted WSJ op-ed promising regulatory reform. Now Obama will return to his comfort zone as a far left demagogue stoking class envy and playing to his ideologically-motivated left-wing base.
My guess is "The Illinois Mafia" decided Daley was a drag on the campaign - being a Washington insider and all and, probably even tempering some of the president's positions. Atop the new book on Michelle Obama's operations in the White House, it's obvious the full story hasn't been told just yet.
Daley was such an odd fit as chief of staff to begin with.
He had always been the ultimate slick Washington insider with deep ties to the Wall Street crowd. Hardly the "Change We Can Believe In" that candidate Obama promised on the presidential campaign trail back in 2008. And that's a major reason why the president is facing such a tough reelection fight this time around. Many of his old supporters, particularly those under thirty, feel he cynically sold them out over head-scratching choices like this one. Maybe if he ditches Timothy Geithner as well, some of these supporters will come back. Don't hold your breath, however.
Political news anchor Keith Olbermann continues to make waves at Current TV, the New York Times reports.
After recently declining to lead the channel’s coverage of the Iowa caucuses, the network went ahead and broadcast without him. Now both sides are communicating through lawyers and Olbermann’s television future appears somewhat cloudy – despite the fact that he has serious leverage over the content and control of his show.
Was Al Gore wise to give the embattled anchor such significant power in a small media company? Will Olbermann be his own undoing?
Well - guess Mr. Mean (aka Keith Olbermann) has angered even his own network executives. Not sure anyone watched the channel anyway!
The sad truth is that neither party is right.
Current TV is clearly not ready for prime-time, and particularly in the high-production values needed for election coverage, where dazzling graphics, instant computer analysis, and quick cutaways to skilled and seasoned reporters are the shiny lures for viewers. As Ann Richards used to say, you can put lipstick on a sow and call it Suzy but it's still a pig, and dressing up a set with "Primary Coverage" will not hide the deficiencies that drove Olbermann into one of his patented sulks.
Olbermann, however right he may be in assessing Current TV's deficiencies, should at least conduct himself with a little more sensitivity to an employer - yes, employer - who gave him both a life raft and the keys to Dad's car when they hired him. Unless this is a clever ploy to rid himself of his contract at Current and bounce, yet again, to a corporate giant with higher ratings potential and where he will have the lifespan of a mayfly, I hope they both get it together, because news analysis is the better for having Olbermann's unique talent on air.
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