Jonathan Chait: Daley Was Obama’s Biggest Mistake

Daily Intel’s Jonathan Chait draws a typically sharp conclusion from the recently-reported demotion of White House chief of staff Bill Daley. The problem was that Daley bought into the hype of “business leaders, centrist pundits, and other elites” that Obama was too much of a partisan in the early years of his presidency. It was this belief that led Daley to spend countless hours courting corporate tycoons and Congressional Republicans—only to fail to make any meaningful headway. The approach was fatally flawed because “Americans were not itching for Obama to make peace with corporate America. Americans are in an angry, populist mood.” With Daley sidelined, here’s hoping Obama will harness that populist outrage.