Chief of Staff Bill Daley

Joan Walsh explains why the President's Chief of Staff, Bill Daley, is even worse than his predecessor (who was and is awful). I buy her argument until she comes to this point:

Simon’s “exclusive” made me think of the disturbing line from Ron Suskind’s “Confidence Men,” in which Suskind alleges that the most “pernicious and personal dilemma emerging from inside the administration” was that “the young president’s authority was being systematically undermined or hedged by his seasoned advisers.” Daley undermined Obama’s new populist, partisan message in his self-promoting interview. The young president should send him packing.

I, for one, refuse to absolve Obama of blame for the failings of his staff. Who chose them?

As for Obama's newfound populism: It would be welcome if I trusted him, but I don't.