Will Obama Pick Bill Daley as Chief of Staff?

By Kevin Robinson in News on Jan 4, 2011 4:40PM

Bloomberg News is reporting that President Obama is considering Bill Daley, brother of outgoing Mayor Richard Daley, for the position of White House Chief of Staff.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told Bloomberg “I’m not going to comment on personnel speculation,” in an email, and Bill Daley, who served under Bill Clinton as Secretary of Commerce and chaired Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, would add Beltway experience and strong business ties to Obama's senior staff.

The speculation comes as Obama begins a shuffle of senior advisors in the White House, as both staff leave for other pursuits (such as Rahm Emanuel's run for mayor) or to gear up for his re-election campaign, as David Axelrod's plans on doing in a few months. Bill Daley would also add a level of business savvy to the President's team as he prepares to go into battle against a newly emboldened Republican majority in the House and charges that he is anti-business.

According to the Tribune, Daley has spoken with the administration recently on a number of subjects, and last summer he joined the board of directors of the Third Way, a Democratic think tank that is described as moderate, pro-business and pro-growth. At the time Daley denied that the move was about anything more than reaching out to moderates and independents. He said at the time that he thought the move was a good way to find middle ground on economic and foreign policy issues.