The last moderate leaves the Obama administration.
Barack Obama has burned through his second chief of staff, Bill Daley. It was thought that Daley would remain on board until after the next election but that is not to be and Daley’s departure is the opening salvo in what promises to be a war.
Charlie Gasparino tells us why Daley left and what it means: a hard left turn.
The announcement that Bill Daley will step down as President Obama’s chief of staff is further proof that as the 2012 election approaches, Obama is embracing his inner leftist on anything touching the economy. The administration has moved so far left that even one of the country’s most prominent Democrats can’t fit in.
And he believes that the Republican nominee will face a “scorched Earth” campaign assault.
Daley was about the last moderate in the Obama administration. He no doubt riled his colleagues and boss with the occasional flash of truth:
Daley said he couldn’t get into detail about the individual case which he said sounded like the “typical sort of bureaucratic stuff that’s hard to defend. Sometimes you can’t defend the indefensible.” The chief of staff said he would look into the case to “see if there is any way to bring some reason into it.”
Daley eventually became a pariah because of his tendency to be a moderate:
Daley thought he had the president’s blessing to move the Obama economic agenda to the center, but that support quickly evaporated as the ideologues and the spin masters like Valerie Jarrett and David Plouffe assumed bigger roles in the administration’s daily affairs.
As I reported on the Fox Business Network back in September, Daley grew increasingly agitated about his role. He openly complained that he was being isolated by Jarrett, Obama’s friend and personal adviser, who’s been at the forefront of Obama’s most recent leftward tilt, and let it be known that he wanted to do something else — maybe serve as treasury secretary, given his banking background at JP Morgan.
Daley was reportedly undercut routinely by the Chicago mafia:
Daley was often overruled by Obama Chicago insiders like Valerie Jarrett, leaving him ineffectual. If nothing else it’s surprising Bill Daley put up with the level of disrespect he faced from the “chosen few,” in the administration.
But it seems his greatest fault was trying to work with Republicans
Daley’s downward spiral was accelerated when he tried to work with Congressional Republicans, something he learned from serving in the Clinton administration. Daley suggested Obama work with Speaker Boehner to “go big” on a deal during the summer debt ceiling negotiations while Obama’s close friends wanted Obama to take a tougher “take it or leave it,” approach.
Obama Senior Adviser David Plouffe and incoming Chief of Staff Lew were in favor of a big deal with Boehner while National Economic Council Chairman Gene Sperling was opposed. Sperling won and Daley lost.
Daley’s moderate views and his willingness to work with Republicans made him widely unpopular with White House staff leading to deterioration in his role in administration efforts. Daley’s businessman’s approach to the nation’s fiscal issues ran in direct opposition to key White House advisors that wanted more liberal policies.
Tavis Smiley says the coming election will be the “ugliest.”
You can bet on it.
People forget that this is the same Barack Obama whose people somehow managed to come into possession of Jack Ryan’s sealed divorce records and then had his operatives email supporters about it. The Chicago Tribune then piled on, suing to have Ryan’s sealed records made public. Then, inexplicably, Berkeley-educated and Grey Davis-appointed judge Robert Schnider decided that Ryan’s divorce records should be made public and Ryan’s campaign was doomed.
Obama made a pious reversal on his position about injecting Ryan’s records into the race- but only after they were ordered released. Yet he did not call on others to do the same.
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Barack Obama reversed his position on Republican rival Jack Ryan’s divorce file Friday, calling on fellow Democrats to refrain from trying to inject it into the campaign.
“I don’t think it’s an appropriate topic for debate,” Obama said.
Obama has consistently said that his campaign would not focus on Ryan’s 1999 divorce from TV actress Jeri Ryan.
But when he first made that pledge, Obama refused to call on other Democrats to follow his lead.
“It’s going to be up to other people to determine what’s appropriate and what’s not,” Obama said the day after his March primary victory.
Given’s Obama’s past and with Axelrod, Plouffe and Jarrett behind the scenes, you absolutely can expect to see the nastiest, filthiest election campaign you have ever seen.
It’s the Chicago way.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.