Sam Stein: Obama May Pick Bill Daley With An Eye Toward 2012 (VIDEO)

Sam Stein dropped by the "Rachel Maddow" show on Tuesday to talk with guest host Chris Hayes about a hot prospect for Barack Obama's next chief of staff.

According to Stein, Bill Daley could be the best choice help lead the administration -- at least with respect to the 2012 elections, if not the White House itself. The current Wall Street executive and former high-level Democratic operative brings some pragmatic benefits.

"He is sort of that key person who will know all the key players in the Obama orbit," Stein explained. "You want someone at chief of staff -- while you're running for reelect -- who knows the Chicago team and who knows what it's like to be in an election campaign."

On the other hand, Stein warned, Daley's strong ties to the finance world could have some repercussions. "To cozy up like this and appoint someone who worked at J.P. Morgan ... who fought regulations ... that's problematic and that sends a really bad message for the president in terms of the idea that he's too beholden to banks."

While that makes some uneasy in Democratic circles, Stein also pointed out that Obama has shown no hesitation to be his own man, moving in a different direction on certain policy issues than former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Vice President Joe Biden wanted him to go.

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Comments

[JustBNice]

09:12 AM on 01/05/2011

Obama is looking out for Obama, not the citizenry.

He appeases the Republicans and that's about it.

Maybe I'm extra grumpy today, but that's how it looks to me.

[taddles]

09:22 AM on 01/05/2011

He's looking at a CoS that can run a campaign in the expected nasty mode that it most likely will be in 2012. If that's the CoS's only primary function for the next 2 years than this guy is a good choice. If he is going to be around past Nov. 2 2012 than he's a poor choice.

[JustBNice]

10:02 AM on 01/05/2011

Agreed.

[CaptainVideo]

08:46 AM on 01/05/2011

In the November election, a majority of the voters who were angry at Wall Street voted for the Republicans. This was a major problem for the Democrats. Appointing Daley will make the problem worse.

[CaptainVideo]

08:44 AM on 01/05/2011

Unless the unemployment rate in 2012 is significantly lower than is currently being projected, Obama's chances of being reelected are poor. Obama needs a chief policy advisor who understands that doing everything political feasible to bring the unemployment rate down has to be the overriding objective of his administration. It is highly that Daley, who is in touch with Wall Street and not with Main Street understands that.

IT'S THE JOBS, MR. PRESIDENT!

[JustBNice]

09:10 AM on 01/05/2011

Did you leave out the word unlikely after the word highly in your last sentence ?

[sixchair]

08:27 AM on 01/05/2011

a nation of the banksters, by the banksters, for the banksters

[caleb36]

08:17 AM on 01/05/2011

Bill Daley is not a good choice. He was in charge of the botched December 2000 effort in Florida to recount the ballots. He chose a flawed strategy to seek recounts only in specific counties rather than a statewide recount. As the article notes, he has close ties to the biggest financial institutions through his employment with J.P. Morgan Chase. Above all, he is a consummate Chicago politician (the brother of the mayor) with all that that entails. But then, so is President Obama.

[studana51]

06:43 AM on 01/05/2011

It's all about re-election, not really about solving problems. The usual mantra in DC.
The only jobs that matter are their own. They will sacrifice our treasury, blood and future to keep them at all costs. Fasten your seat-belts, things are gonna get a lot worse.

[Never Again]

08:03 AM on 01/05/2011

In terms of raising funds, campaigns begin the as soon as the previous election results are official. The average winning Senate campaign spends between 10-12 million. Therefore, races like those in NY cost significan­tly more. Over 6 years, that comes out to raising about 33,000 per week! For the House, the average cost is about 1.2 million. That's about 10,000 a week over the two years. The talk is that President Obama will have about 1 billion to spend for 2012! This is pure insanity.