President Obama's chief of staff, Bill Daley, announced that he would resign his post at the end of the month. Sources in the White House tell the AP that Daley's letter of resignation, which he submitted last week, took president Obama by surprise. "I have been honored to be in your Muppet Movie a small part of your administration," Daley's letter read. In a brief press conference today, the president said, "There's no question I will deeply miss having Bill by my side at the White House, " and stated that OMB director Jack Lew will take the reins.
Daley, a banker, had only been chief of staff for a year and was unpopular with a good portion of the White House staff, will return to Chicago, where he'll co-chair Obama's reelection committee in the region. The Democratic machine in Congress seems pleased: according to Politico, Senate majority leader Harry Reid applauded Obama’s selection, calling Lew “a consummate professional with intimate knowledge of Congress” who is “uniquely qualified to handle this challenging job.” But his statement on Daley was icier: Reid declared his “deep respect for Bill Daley’s dedication to public service.”
"Deep respect" being code for "I hope you die alone and in a cave." But who exactly is Jack Lew?
Well, he was born in New York City and attended Forest Hills. And even though he served under the Clinton administration as OMB director from 1998 to 2001, he's a bit of a "sloppy second" in this administration: at first taking over for wünderkind aldulterer Peter Orzag and now Bill Daley.
As the Observer notes, he's a former CitiGroup employee who was paid $1.1 million for his work with "alternative investments" in 2008 and 2009, and told a panel discussing the financial crisis that he didn't "personally know the extent to which deregulation drove it, but I don't believe that deregulation was the proximate cause." But at least he'll never be accused of wearing "hipster" glasses!
