Another Day, Another Daley

Today President Obama announced his permanent replacement for Chief of Staff, a post vacated by Rahm Emanuel when he left to run for mayor in Chicago. William Daley, of the Chicago Daleys, served as Commerce Secretary under Bill Clinton from 97-2000, but mostly is known for his business relations. He's a more behind-the-scenes Daley, and was described as "double Rahm, double calm" by HuffPo's Howard Fineman.

Daley, not his protégé Rahm Emanuel, is the preeminent Chicago Democratic insider --

with twice the history and contacts, and twice the serenity, confidence and maturity in

wielding power....With his low-key demeanor, sense of personal decorum, and yen for

privacy and upright behavior in personal life, the 62-year-old Daley has accumulated a

lifetime of allies who now will help and respond to him in his new White House job.

What Daley brings to the table that some critics have argued for months now, is a businessman's point of view. As we approach the 2012 race, commentators like MSNBC's Joe Scarborough have argued that the President needs business on his side to prevent a troublesome run from someone like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The choice of Daley as the new CoS is bothering some on the left because of these very business credentials he brings with him. While not an idealistic liberal, Daley is more of the old-Democratic family style Democrats. For lack of a better description, he's a true-blue Chicago Democrat. He gets things done, he builds the right coalitions, and he (generally) in on the right (left) side. While he has criticized some policy pushes from the White House (spending a year on health care, parts of the Wall Street reform bill), he is a pragmatic Democrat who can really bring something to the White House that they've been missing lately.

Not too mention, he can keep people in line, pretty much the biggest part of the job.