"Obama staff shakeup imminent"

[Clio the Leo]

What's becoming clearer is not that Gibbs is leaving entirely, but that he's leaving the "White House" so he can campaign for the President and become the much-needed "independent" surrogate the President has been without. In other words, we'd hear MORE from him, not less.

Obama staff shakeup imminent
Posted by:
CNN Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry
WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Obama now wants to move quickly on naming the next full-time White House chief of staff and has narrowed the list down to a two-man race between current interim boss Pete Rouse and former Clinton Commerce Secretary William Daley, according to two senior Democratic sources close to the process, who noted a slew of staff moves could be announced as early as Friday.

<snip>

Several Democratic sources added that the President is likely to name Gene Sperling, a former Clinton administration official who is now a counselor at the Treasury Department, to replace Larry Summers as the head of the National Economic Council. One senior Democrat said it is "more or less done" that Sperling will get the post over former Clinton official Roger Altman, though it has not been made official yet.

<snip>

The senior Democratic sources said Gibbs could still land another senior post inside the White House but is more likley now to move to the private sector and become sort of an uber-spokesman and strategist for Obama on the outside, shuttling back and forth between Washington and the eventual re-elect campaign office in Chicago, freeing him up to focus more on politics and help the President from the outside.

The two leading contenders to replace Gibbs as press secretary are his current deputy Bill Burton, an Obama loyalist who is popular within the administration for his long tenure dating back to his distinguished service in Chicago for the 2008 campaign as well as his time in the White House, and Jay Carney, a former journalist who is now the well-respected communications director for Vice President Biden and is seen by some Obama insiders as being more seasoned to replace Gibbs.

<snip>

The two senior Democratic sources said that while Obama has been holding extensive private conversations with other prominent Democrats - including former Senator Tom Daschle and former Clinton chiefs of staff Leon Panetta and John Podesta - all of those insiders have made clear to the President that they do not want to be considered for the chief of staff role this time around and are instead helping Obama in various ways sort through how he wants to staff off for the new power dynamic on Capitol Hill.

http://whitehouse.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/04/obama-staff-shakeup-imminent/

Henry also says (via Twitter) to expect the announcements to start as early as Friday.

Per Marc Ambinder and Henry: "The COS job is Rouse's job if he wants it."
http://bit.ly/h4mNge http://bit.ly/h4mNge

[ProSense]

1. This is hilarious

<...>

The senior Democratic sources said Gibbs could still land another senior post inside the White House but is more likley now to move to the private sector and become sort of an uber-spokesman and strategist for Obama on the outside, shuttling back and forth between Washington and the eventual re-elect campaign office in Chicago, freeing him up to focus more on politics and help the President from the outside.

<...>

Senior Democratic sources make wild guesses: He's going to leave...or stay.

:rofl:

[Clio the Leo]

2. Senior Democratic sources....

.... are likely Gibbs himself. ;)

Ambinder and Henry know what they're talking about. If Mike Allen reports the same tomorrow, then it's a done deal.

[ProSense]

3. It's likely that the

final decision hasn't been floated, but the rumor that he will either leave or stay is funny.

[Pirate Smile]

4. I like Burton but Carney might be good as spokesman.

I liked him as a reporter/pundit dude before he joined the Biden gang. He hasn't been on camera much (at all?) since he joined the Obama Administration.

[Thrill]

5. Carney is the guy who use to work for Time Magazine right?

I like him in the position more than Burton

[Pirate Smile]

7. Yep. That's him. He might be really good in that position.

[Clio the Leo]

6. ** More: "Who's Staffing Obama 2.0: An Update"

Tons and tons of names more names than you have ever heard before anywhere! :)

http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/who-s-staffing-obama-2-0-an-update-20110104

[Pirate Smile]

8. I read somewhere (where? blog? tweet? I don't remember) that Gibbs could be setting up one of the

outside groups to raise $$$ to fight the Republican/Rove jackoffs.

Was that based on any credible information? No idea. :shrug:

[Pirate Smile]

9. Here it was - total speculation by Chris Cillizza

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/white-house/is-robert-gibbs-leaving-and-wh.html?wprss=thefix