MSNBC: William Daley resigning as Chief of Staff

[flpoljunkie]

Just now on MSNBC.

[flpoljunkie]

1. A bit more from Talkingpointsmemo...

TPMLivewire
01-09-2012 2:15 PM

Obama To Deliver Statement At 3 PM ET

President Obama will deliver a statement at 3 p.m. ET, likely announcing the resignation of White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/updates/3815

[leveymg]

7. The building would be practically empty. Sigh.

[INdemo]

10. There would be no one left in the Obama adminsistration,,,

except maybe Biden ....

[yardwork]

12. Biden? Joe "I never met a credit card company or a pharmaceutical company I didn't love" Biden?

[russspeakeasy]

15. Yup, that's the one, but don't tell anyone else on this site,

or you will be considered a repub.

[elleng]

3. Daley kind of stepped aside recently, didn't he?

I assume no hints about a newbie?

[flpoljunkie]

6. TPM writes OMB Budget Director Jack Lew will take over the position.

01-09-2012 2:08 PM

White House Chief Of Staff William Daley To Step Down

White House chief of staff William Daley is expected to step down, with OMB budget director Jack Lew to take over, reports the LA Times.

Daley gave his letter of resignation to the president in a private meeting in the Oval Office last week, recounting the administration’s successes of his one year on the job and saying it was time for him to return to his hometown of Chicago.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/updates/3813

[MGKrebs]

13. Hmm, wonder if he is going to work in the campaign team.

[Little Star]

4. Well that was quick, no?

[southernyankeebelle]

5. yep, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

[yurbud]

8. will he be replaced with another corporate bootlick like Daley and Rahm?

[flpoljunkie]

9. Apparently not. Jack Lew was also Bill Clinton's Budget Director.

[totodeinhere]

14. Yes. Lew is a former Citigroup executive. n/t

[harun]

16. *sigh*

[yurbud]

20. why not cut out the middle man and give Obama the receptionist desk outside Lloyd Blankfein's office

[hay rick]

27. Truth in the organization chart. nt

[Hotler]

44. They both could do God's work. n/t

[Vanje]

33. dammit nt

[_ed_]

54. Yes

Lew, formerly of CitiGroup, was in charge of a division that shorted the housing market.

[yurbud]

57. the only positions in government guys like that should be taking is in a prison cell.

[_ed_]

60. Must look forward, not backward

.

[Hubert Flottz]

11. Might we finally see a tiny bit of the "CHANGE"

we voted for three years ago?

I've tried to keep the faith.

[SixthSense]

17. not a chance in Hell

this is JPMorgan out, Citibank in

he cannot seem to pick a Chief of Staff that is not from some corrupt TBTF financial institution

it begs the question of who is really making that decision

[yurbud]

21. please, sir, may I have a bit more? The fat cats have eaten so much they've fallen asleep

and they spilt some food on the floor, may I lick it up, please?

[chervilant]

39. DANGER, Will Robinson, DANGER!!!

You are risking the wrath of the Illustrious Posters of Teh Hallowed List!!!

[Hubert Flottz]

43. And don't you forget it!

[yurbud]

48. I am ever so grateful for the list, but the fat cats got far more, and I'm still hungry.

The Federal Reserve was especially generous to them to the tune of tens of TRILLIONS, but gave us nothing.

[Blue_Tires]

18. I'll be the FIRST to propose that DU en masse advises the President!

[ellisonz]

40. Only if polls and unrec come back...

[chervilant]

66. hmph

He'll just accuse you of being "resistant to change," then advise you to "eat your peas."

[madrchsod]

19. sweet home chicago...

there`s a few important races here in chicago...oops! i meant fund raisers.

[_ed_]

22. JP Morgan out and CitiGroup in

The White House corporate shuffle continues.

[OKNancy]

23. Did anyone even bother to look up anything about Lew?

of course not. It's just so cool to be a negative-Nellie and jerk those knees.

He did indeed work for Citigroup for 3 years.

But before that.....

Lew grew up in New York City. As a 12-year-old, he campaigned for Eugene McCarthy in the 1968 presidential election. "It was also my introduction to seeing that you could make a difference in people's lives through politics," he told the New York Times in 1999.

Lew's faculty adviser at Carleton College was Paul Wellstone, an outspoken liberal who eventually represented Minnesota in the U.S. Senate until dying in a 2002 plane crash. Lew graduated from Harvard and earned a law degree from Georgetown.

He worked as an aide to Rep. Joe Moakley (D-Mass.) from 1974 to 1975. He then was a senior policy adviser to House Speaker Thomas (Tip) P. O'Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) from 1979 to 1987. "I grew up in many ways on the Hill in Mr. O'Neill's office," Lew told the Times.

Lew served as Deputy Director of Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton Administration from 1995 to 1998 and Director from 1998 to 2001. He served as executive vice president of New York University from 2001 to 2006.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/09/jack-lew-bill-daley-white-house-chief-of-staff_n_1195011.html

Edit to add: The Atlantic calls him and "outspoken liberal"
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/01/who-is-new-white-house-chief-of-staff-jack-lew/251110/

[Tinksrival]

24. Thank you OKNancy

I really do appreciate you adding concrete information to this very uninformative thread. I really miss that about DU.

[loudsue]

32. I miss that about DU, also. All the liberals and researchers keep getting kicked off & tombstoned.

It certainly lowers the overall quality of the site.

[Wind Dancer]

58. +1

Indeed!

[DCBob]

26. Of course not.. they are too busy crafting their clever complaints.

Thank you for this information. He sounds like a decent guy with a very good background.

[_ed_]

52. Decent guy? Only if you're in the 1%

"[Lew] oversaw a Citigroup unit that profited off the housing collapse and financial crisis by investing in a hedge fund king who correctly predicted the eventual subprime meltdown and now finds himself involved in the center of the U.S. government’s fraud case against Goldman Sachs. . . .

t is his few years at Citi — in particular the one year he spent at its then-$54 billion proprietary trading, hedge fund and private equity unit — that’s likely to raise the most eyebrows in the coming weeks as Lew faces a Senate confirmation hearing.

Especially his unit’s investments in a hedge fund that bet on the housing market to collapse — a reality suffered by millions of American homeowners."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/14/jack-lew-obamas-omb-pick_n_645093.html


This guy shorted the housing market for a criminal bank! This is your definition of a decent guy?

[dmallind]

61. So you want somebody who WASN'T smart enough to see that?

Could he have stopped the meltdown? No.

Did his hedging accelerate or worsen it in any way? No.

Who did the money he made come from then? People who bet that bundled high risk subprime mortgages were GOOD investments and by certain implication wanted the fraudulent practices to continue.

Would YOU turn down money on that basis? Do you want somebody in one of the toughest jobs in the world who doesn't have the insight needed to understand the economy? Again if he had caused the problem or defrauded borrowers it would be one thing - but he made money betting, correctly, that the CDO shysters were WRONG.

[_ed_]

62. If you're defending someone who shorted the housing market,

I really don't know what to say anymore. I must be completely out of step with the modern Democratic party.

Do you really believe that? Don't you understand how his branch of CitiGroup tied in with the other branches of the company to perpetuate the massive fraud on the taxpayer? Lew bet one way, other departments bet the other way. Do you think he was operating in a vacuum? Just google how much taxpayer money went to Citigroup from both TARP and the backdoor bailouts from the FED.

If that doesn't bother you, we really have nothing to talk about.

[dmallind]

63. What, precisely, did his actions do to hurt normal folks and how? nt

[_ed_]

64. Are you serious?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/28/omb-nominee-got-900000-after-citigroup-bailout/

Who paid for his bonus?

This is all you need to know: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/21/obama-nominee-jacob-lew-f_n_732594.html

This guy worked in the casino division of CitiGroup, bet against American homeowners, shorted the market, millions of Americans are now out of their homes, he lost millions for his company, and was lavishly rewarded with a taxpayer-funded bonus. He "doesn't belive that deregulation led to the financial crisis," even though what he did back then is now again illegal.

[BlueMTexpat]

29. I'm adding my thanks to the others.

Those pesky facts ...

[_ed_]

55. Pesky facts like this:

"[Lew] oversaw a Citigroup unit that profited off the housing collapse and financial crisis by investing in a hedge fund king who correctly predicted the eventual subprime meltdown and now finds himself involved in the center of the U.S. government’s fraud case against Goldman Sachs. . . .

t is his few years at Citi — in particular the one year he spent at its then-$54 billion proprietary trading, hedge fund and private equity unit — that’s likely to raise the most eyebrows in the coming weeks as Lew faces a Senate confirmation hearing.

Especially his unit’s investments in a hedge fund that bet on the housing market to collapse — a reality suffered by millions of American homeowners."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/14/jack-lew-obamas-omb-pick_n_645093.html

You're cheering for a guy who shorted the housing market.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

30. Interesting! In a GOOD way!

might have to personally deliver your post to everyone who jumped to negative assumptions, since it looks like they're not coming back to re-read.

[_ed_]

53. Jumped to negative assumptions?

"[Lew] oversaw a Citigroup unit that profited off the housing collapse and financial crisis by investing in a hedge fund king who correctly predicted the eventual subprime meltdown and now finds himself involved in the center of the U.S. government’s fraud case against Goldman Sachs. . . .

t is his few years at Citi — in particular the one year he spent at its then-$54 billion proprietary trading, hedge fund and private equity unit — that’s likely to raise the most eyebrows in the coming weeks as Lew faces a Senate confirmation hearing.

Especially his unit’s investments in a hedge fund that bet on the housing market to collapse — a reality suffered by millions of American homeowners."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/14/jack-lew-obamas-omb-pick_n_645093.html


This is not an assumption: this man shorted the housing market for a criminal bank.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

59. would you mind posting your reply to

OKNancy or one of the other posters here who are much more versed in this material?

Honestly, I was responding based on what OKNancy said, which seemed much more informational than the other posts here. However, I'm not expert in this aspect, so I can't reply well to you.

I'm interested in learning, so thanks for your post. I don't know enough to put it in perspective; I'm assuming others can do better on that.

[Politicub]

34. +1

[Ken Burch]

36. OK...the guy was good BEFORE he hit Citigroup

Still, the moment you join the corporate world, your soul dies. It's universally true.

[totodeinhere]

37. HuffPo: He was a hedge fund executive who made money off from mortgage defaults

Jack Lew

oversaw a Citigroup unit that profited off the housing collapse and financial crisis by investing in a hedge fund king who correctly predicted the eventual subprime meltdown and now finds himself involved in the center of the U.S. government's fraud case against Goldman Sachs.

(snip)

Lew made millions at Citi, including a bonus of nearly $950,000 in 2009 just a few months after the bank received billions of dollars in a taxpayer rescue, according to disclosure forms filed with the federal government. The bank is still partly owned by taxpayers.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/14/jack-lew-obamas-omb-pick_n_645093.html

As far as I'm concerned in spite of what else might be on his resume this disqualifies him.

[HDPaulG]

38. Thank You OKNancy!

[Jakes Progress]

46. Post 38, read post 37

[_ed_]

56. Are you interested in learning what he did at CitiGroup?

"[Lew] oversaw a Citigroup unit that profited off the housing collapse and financial crisis by investing in a hedge fund king who correctly predicted the eventual subprime meltdown and now finds himself involved in the center of the U.S. government’s fraud case against Goldman Sachs. . . .

t is his few years at Citi — in particular the one year he spent at its then-$54 billion proprietary trading, hedge fund and private equity unit — that’s likely to raise the most eyebrows in the coming weeks as Lew faces a Senate confirmation hearing.

Especially his unit’s investments in a hedge fund that bet on the housing market to collapse — a reality suffered by millions of American homeowners."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/14/jack-lew-obamas-omb-pick_n_645093.html

[ellisonz]

41. +100,000

[progressoid]

45. Well, when you get whacked in the knee over and over and over

and over and over and over, we tend to expect to get whacked again.

[_ed_]

50. Yes, I did

He made millions for himself and CitiGroup shorting the housing market and putting poor people out onto the street while he lined his greedy pockets. Now, he's doing the "revolving door" between Wall Street and the government.

I don't care who he worked for in the past. The man was instrumental in the financial crisis and the housing crisis.

Lew is the 1%. Daley was the 1%. It's clear who the White House is concerned with in America. It's Wall Street.

[harun]

51. We'll see soon enough.

[PassingFair]

25. If he had named Howard Dean as COS replacement, I would work my precinct for him.

As it is, he's got my vote and nothing more.

Jeez, I think Russ Feingold is probably looking for something to do as well.

[OKNancy]

28. Paul Wellstone thought highly of him

He was the one who sent him to Washington
http://www.minnpost.com/devinhenry/2012/01/09/34219/the_minnesota_connections_of_the_new_white_house_chief_of_staff

[dflprincess]

31. Wellstone was his faculty advisor at Carleton - the article doesn't really say if Paul liked him or

not. Though Wellstone was able to get along with anyone (including Jesse Helms). Maybe he sent Lew to Washington in the hopes he'd learn something.

Given Lew's history at Citibank, I'm inclined to think he didn't learn much from Wellstone - or has forgotton what he was taught. Demorats like Wellstone are not well loved by this administration - Obama once referred to him as a "gadfly".

[Jakes Progress]

47. Whoa. Reading Wellstone's mind. Cute trick.

[ellisonz]

42. Noooo!

Don't let the GOP bastards win.

I don't think Russ or Howard wants the job. What I really want is a new Press Secretary - Jay Carney is a cold fish.

[Ken Burch]

35. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Last edited Tue Jan 10, 2012, 03:22 PM - Edit history (1)

There was NEVER a good reason for Obama to keep picking chiefs of staff who hate the progressive wing of the party.

It was wrong to pick Chuckie and it was wrong to pick Rahm. No Republican president ever had a chief of staff that treated HIS party's base as the enemy.

The chief of staff position in a Democratic White House should only be held by somebody who puts workers and the poor first. It should never go to somebody who's more comfortable in the suites than the streets. Nobody in the suites is ever on OUR side.

[yurbud]

49. the closest the GOP came to that was Papa Bush who always seemed uncomfortable with the rest of us

and their base in particular.

But he didn't call his base ''fucking retarded''--though Lee Atwater did refer to them as the extra chromosome types which means the same thing.

[_ed_]

65. Rubbish out, rubbish in

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/21/obama-nominee-jacob-lew-f_n_732594.html

Out goes JP Morgan, in comes CitiGroup.

[Ken Burch]

67. so it's rubbish with a different logo.