According to scuttlebutt, the president will announce White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s resignation Friday. Emanuel, who is leaving to run for mayor of Chicago, will reportedly be replaced by Pete Rouse, who ran Barack Obama’s Senate staff.

Emanuel came into the White House with the expectation that he would be the tough guy to keep the Democratic majority in Congress in line, but by all accounts his abrasive, pragmatic style didn’t fit with the president’s inner circle, members of which are frequently described by the press as more idealistic. — PZS

The Washington Post:

Pete Rouse, a senior adviser who was President Obama’s chief of staff in the Senate, is expected to fill the role at least on an interim basis, although several officials said he could wind up in the job permanently.

[…] Emanuel has been setting the stage for his departure for weeks, since the moment outgoing Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (D) said he would not run for reelection. The question of whether and when Emanuel would leave has been a sizable distraction, people who work with the White House said, as other senior officials try to assess what the vacancy will mean and what other moves will be set in motion.

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#barack obama#chicago#congress#election#house of representatives#politics#rahm emanuel#senate#white house