WASHINGTON — Overhauling his team at the top, President Barack Obama on Thursday named banker and seasoned political fighter William Daley as his new chief of staff, hoping to rejuvenate both a White House storming into re-election mode and an economy still gasping for help.
The choice of Daley brought howls of protest from the left flank of the Democratic Party, where advocates questioned his insider ties to Wall Street. Centrists and business leaders rallied around the move, one that underscored just how much and how fast the face of the White House is changing.
Obama, whose hopes for a second term will be shaped largely by how the economy does, linked Daley’s appointment to that task. For the most influential staff job in American politics, Obama chose a fellow Chicagoan and former Cabinet secretary who has run both companies and campaigns.
“I’m convinced that he’ll help us in our mission of growing our economy,” Obama said in a White House ceremony as Daley stood to one side. On the other side of the president was Pete Rouse, the interim chief of staff who oversaw a busy three months but did not want to stay in the job.
Rouse will remain on board for the rest of Obama’s current term as counselor to the president, the only one in the building to hold that elevated title.
Said Daley to his new boss: “This team will not let you down, nor the nation.”
Daley, 62, is known to be deft at deal-making and organizing. He offers Obama credibility with the business community, familiarity with the ways of the Cabinet and experience in navigating divided government.
He has never run for office but is the son of a legendary Chicago mayor and the brother of the current one, and he managed Al Gore’s campaign for the presidency, right through the bitter and historic recount vote of 2000.
Among his challenges: He has supported Obama but not been personally close to him, and now he must run an operation of the president’s loyal staffers.
Liberal groups pounced, fearing White House accommodation to ascendant Republicans and a softening toward Wall Street regulation.
“Why in the world is President Barack Obama selecting as his chief of staff a person who comes from the very Wall Street that wrecked the economy?” said Robert Weissmann, president of Public Citizen, a liberal advocacy group.
