White House Correspondents Insider

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Archives for January 2011

President Obama names William Daley new Chief of Staff

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William Daley, JPMorgan Chase senior executive and Secretary of Commerce during the Clinton administration, has been named the new White House Chief of Staff.

Daley officially takes over for Rahm Emanuel who left to return to Chicago to campaign for mayor (coincidentally, Mr. Daley’s brother Richard serves as Chicago’s current Mayor). Pete Rouse, who served as interim chief of staff, will continue as a Counselor to the President.

See the full story in the New York Times.

Bill Daley, Bill Daley Jr., Tom Hynes, and Terry Dee at the CURE Epilepsy Benefit in Chicago 2010

In today’s special announcement in the East Room, President Obama said he was “proud to announce the appointment of an experienced public servant, devoted patriot, and my friend, fellow Chicagoan Bill Daley, to serve as my Chief of Staff. Few Americans can boast the breadth of experience that Bill brings to this job.”

Tina Tchen: FLOTUS Topper

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Tina Tchen with her daughter and Matthew Morrison at the 2010 WH Correspondents Brunch

Obama White House Senior Adviser, Tina Tchen, is named Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama, replacing Susan Sher who previously announced she is returning to Chicago. Ms. Tchen has most recently worked for Valerie Jarrett as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Public Engagement, and as Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls.  She will continue to lead the White House efforts for women and girls.

Below is the White House Press Release:

January 5, 2011

Statement from Mrs. Obama

“I am thrilled to welcome Tina to my team.  I have admired her work with the White House Council on Women and Girls and her leadership with the Office of Public Engagement.  Tina’s tenure at the White House has focused on ensuring that communities across the country have a voice and a presence at the White House, and her office has worked closely with mine to develop many of our outreach efforts, so she was the natural choice for this role.  We particularly share a commitment to nurturing young women and utilizing the White House as a platform for education and inclusion, and I look forward to continuing that work together.

“As sad as I am to see Susan go, I always knew she would return to her family and her community in Chicago. She arrived here in January of 2009 intending only to stay for a year and her extended tenure as my Chief of Staff has been a gift. She has led my team with an even hand and a clear vision and I am so grateful to her and her family for her time here in Washington.

“When selecting a replacement, I looked for someone who had the right experience to lead my team and am grateful to bring on Tina, whom I’ve known and respected for 20 years.  Tina’s success leading the Office of Public Engagement, reaching out to people across the country and encouraging Americans from all walks of life to feel connected to this White House, makes her uniquely qualified to step up to this position.  I look forward to working with her in the years ahead to develop effective strategies for the Let’s Move! campaign, to broaden our work on behalf of military families, to continue the arts and cultural events in the White House, and to advance our international agenda.”

Valerie Jarrett, Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and Senior Adviser and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement said, “Tina has been an incredible asset as the Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and the Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls.  As the President said at the Council’s formation in the spring of 2009, the issues facing women today are not just women’s issues.  When women are treated unfairly, that affects our families, our work environments and the next generation of young women. Throughout her career, Tina has been a tireless advocate for women and families, and she brought that wealth of experience and dedication to the White House Council’s efforts.  She will bring her leadership, wisdom and passion to her new position and continue to have a substantial impact on the issues affecting America’s women and girls.”

Ms. Tchen began her work for the President and First Lady during the 2008 campaign.  Prior to this service, Ms. Tchen was a partner at the Chicago office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, where she worked for 23 years in corporate litigation, representing public agencies including the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS), the Illinois Department of Public Aid and the Chicago Housing Authority.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to leave White House

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UPDATE (4:54 PM): In today’s White House press briefing Robert Gibbs confirmed he was leaving the White House and when asked about leaving and what his next steps were, Gibbs responded, “that is it is an honor and a privilege to stand here, to work inside this building, to serve your country, to work for a President that I admire as much as President Barack Obama. I’ve been a member of his staff for almost seven years, and it’s — again, it’s a remarkable privilege.  It is in many ways the opportunity of a lifetime, one that I will be forever thankful and grateful for. What I’m going to do next is step back a little bit, recharge some.  We’ve been going at this pace for at least four years.  I will have an opportunity I hope to give some speeches. I will continue to provide advice and counsel to this building and to this President.  And I look forward to continuing to do that.”

To view the full press briefing and Gibbs statement click here.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs will be leaving the White House briefing room podium in early February according to a New York Times article from this morning.

Gibbs will continue to be an adviser to President Obama and will work on his re-election campaign as well as hit the speaking circuit.

Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks with Robert Gibbs at the White House

President Obama commented on Gibbs’ departure to the New York Times in a brief phone interview, saying: “We’ve been on this ride together since I won my Senate primary in 2004… He’s had a six-year stretch now where basically he’s been going 24/7 with relatively modest pay. I think it’s natural for someone like Robert to want to step back for a second to reflect, retool and that, as a consequence, brings about both challenges and opportunities for the White House.”  The President declined to comment on who would be replacing him but said “You’ll be seeing announcements in due course.”

The Speaker Tenure List: Sam Rayburn at 17 Years 53 Days

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Rayburn, O’Neil, McCormack and Hastert in Top Four

With today’s historic shift to a Republican controlled House of Representatives, here is the latest Wikipedia list of tenure of the “Speaker of the House” over history. Imagine what Washington was like with the reign of Sam Rayburn who held the Speakers chair for over 17 years. He was followed by Tip O’Neill with 9 years and 350 days, John McCormack with 8 years and 344 days and Dennis Hassert with 7 years and 359 day. Nancy Pelosi beat out Newt Gingrich by only 2 days with Pelsosi serving 3 years and 363 days.