The arrival of Lew will be welcome on Capitol Hill, especially among Democrats who were frustrated by Daley’s unfamiliarity with Congress. Lew once was a senior policy adviser to former House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill. He also served as budget director under President Clinton, and as deputy director of the Department of State under Hillary Rodham Clinton before taking the budget job under Obama.
BY CHRISTI PARSONS AND PETER NICHOLAS | MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON — After a frustrating year of setbacks and bruising fights with Republicans, President Barack Obama accepted the resignation of Chief of Staff William M. Daley and turned to a Washington veteran in an attempt to improve White House operations and the administration’s dealings with Congress.
Obama announced Monday that Daley, who three months ago said he would remain in the post until after the 2012 election, would be replaced by budget director Jack Lew, whose White House experience dates to former President Bill Clinton’s administration.
Daley’s sudden departure was a surprise, and came after he went to Chicago and Mexico over the holidays to spend time with his wife and grandchildren. Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, a friend who spoke to Daley on Monday, said Daley told his family he was ready to “come back to Chicago.”
When he returned to Washington, Daley asked to talk with the president right away and told Obama in a meeting last week that he had decided to leave. The president asked Daley to take 24 hours to think it over.
“It was surprising to all of us,” said one senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an internal matter.
Appearing in the State Dining Room on Monday flanked by Daley and Lew, Obama said that “in the end, the pull of the hometown we both love, a city that’s been synonymous with the Daley family for generations, was too great. Bill told me that he wanted to spend more time with his family, especially his grandchildren, and he felt it was the right decision.”
If the timing of Daley’s departure was unexpected, the decision was not. From the start of his tenure, Daley struggled to find a comfort zone in an insular White House in which Obama relies heavily on trusted advisers held over from the 2008 campaign and his Illinois Senate office.
In November, Obama announced a change in management that left Daley with a reduced role. Daley kept his title, but many of the day-to-day operational duties shifted to Pete Rouse, a trusted Obama confidante who had also worked for him in the Senate.
Daley had little in the way of a personal relationship with Obama. Though he served as commerce secretary in the Clinton administration, he lamented that the culture in Washington had changed greatly since the 1990s — more polarized, partisan and gridlocked.
“He’s been through one of the roughest years any president or chief of staff has ever been through politically,” Durbin said. “The tea party, divided Congress, and threats to shut down the government have created more tension than most people go through in that position. I can understand fully why he wants to go home.”
Daley had difficulty adapting to the new environment. The White House touted his pro-business credentials and hoped he would improve relations with conservative lawmakers and the corporate sector, but the chill persisted. His efforts to help Obama strike a “grand bargain” with House Speaker John Boehner on deficit reduction last summer fell apart, and Democrats on the Hill bristled when Daley lumped them in with Republicans as he criticized the perpetual stalemates in Congress.
Daley also failed to recognize the degree to which partisan politics had complicated what used to be routine government business. In August, a standoff with Congress over raising the nation’s debt ceiling brought the U.S. to the brink of an unprecedented default. Lawmakers ultimately approved the increase, but the impasse contributed to a downgrade of the U.S. debt rating.
When it was over, Daley called Boehner, R-Ohio, and requested a date for Obama to present his jobs proposal to a joint session of Congress. Daley believed that Boehner had agreed, and a White House aide announced the speech.
Boehner subsequently said he had never agreed to that date. Obama relented and accepted a different date, giving the appearance he had capitulated to the House speaker. The episode proved an embarrassment to the president, while demonstrating that Daley was not succeeding at improving relations with Congress.
The White House’s last shakeup took place one year ago, when Daley was brought in to succeed Rahm Emanuel. In a flurry of moves, Obama also replaced outgoing senior adviser David Axelrod with David Plouffe, who had managed Obama’s 2008 campaign. Axelrod returned to Chicago to work on Obama’s re-election campaign.
The arrival of Lew will be welcome on Capitol Hill, especially among Democrats who were frustrated by Daley’s unfamiliarity with Congress. Lew once was a senior policy adviser to former House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill. He also served as budget director under President Clinton, and as deputy director of the Department of State under Hillary Rodham Clinton before taking the budget job under Obama.