White House chief of staff William Daley resigns

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has announced that his chief of staff William Daley was quitting and heading home, ending a short tenure that had been expected to last until elections in November.

Daley, who also comes from Chicago as President Obama, would be replaced by Jack Lew, who heads the Office of Management of Budget.

At a hurriedly convened press conference at the White House, Obama yesterday said he asked Daley to reconsider his decision to resign, which he finally decided to go.

"Bill has been an outstanding Chief of Staff during one of the busiest and most consequential years of my administration," Obama said.

"We were thinking back, just a year ago this weekend, before he was even named for the job, Bill was in the Situation Room getting updates on the shooting in Tucson. On his very first day, Bill took part in a meeting where we discussed Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. This was all before he even had time to unpack his office," he said.

"Over the last year, he's been intimately involved in every decision surrounding the end of the war in Iraq and our support of the people of Libya as they fought for their freedom. He was instrumental in developing the American Jobs Act and making sure taxes didn't go up on middle-class families," he said.

"He helped us reach an agreement to reduce the deficit by over USD 2 trillion. And he played a central role in passing historic trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. Given his past record of service as Secretary of Commerce, he was invaluable in all these negotiations," Obama said.

Praising Lew's accomplishments in his capacity as head of the Office of Management of Budget, Obama said his economic advice has been invaluable and he has his complete trust, both because of his mastery of the numbers, and the values behind those numbers.

"There is no question that I'm going to deeply miss having Bill by my side here at the White House. But as he will soon find out, Chicago is only a phone call away and I'm going to be using that phone number quite a bit. I plan to continue to seek Bill's advice and counsel on a whole range of issues in the months and years to come," he said.

"And here in Washington, I have every confidence that Jack will make sure that we don't miss a beat and continue to do everything we can to strengthen our economy and the middle class and keep the American people safe," Obama said.

During his tenure as the Chief of Staff, Daley addressed the annual gala of the US India Business Council (USIBC).

Lew would be Obama's third Chief of Staff. Rahm Emanuel, now the Mayor of Chicago, was his first Chief of Staff.