Heart-ache: Gibbs leaving White House soon?

Via Geraghty, behold one of the perils of blogging, my friends: You never know when a rich vein of easy content might be about to run dry. We’ve already lost Pelosi this year insofar as her profile’s about to shrink dramatically. Now I have to make do without Gibbsy too? Even more worrisome, these things always come in threes, which means our traffic could be hanging by a thread that’s about to snap.

If Palin suddenly decides that she’s retiring from public life, I think we’ll have to shut the site down.

Obama has been mulling for months the possibility of naming former commerce secretary William Daley to be his chief of staff, meeting with him at least once in person, two Democrats said. Although familiar with the Daley family – William is the brother of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley – Obama did not have a personal relationship with William Daley and wanted to get to know him better. The secret has been tightly held, without as much as a mention in senior staff meetings, an administration official said. The official, like others cited in this report, asked not to be named in order to speak freely about private deliberations.

But it is only part of a potentially much larger reorganization that encompasses almost the entire West Wing hierarchy, including those who have had the most influence over the administration’s direction in its first two years.

Among the biggest changes could be the departure of press secretary Robert Gibbs , who is said to be exploring the possibility of leaving the White House altogether, perhaps to set up his own consulting shop and play a leading role in the 2012 campaign, two Democrats said. That move could happen in the coming weeks.

The good news? According to Politico, Obama and interim chief of staff Pete Rouse think Gibbs can best serve them going forward as an advisor and “occasional cable TV commentator,” which means there should be plenty of painfully awkward video clips worth posting in the years to come. As for possible replacements, the short list reportedly includes deputy spokesman Bill Burton and former Time magazine editor turned Biden spokesman Jay Carney. Which makes sense: Given how famously tough the media was on Obama during the last presidential campaign, he’ll want one of their own at the podium to help win ‘em over this time ahead of 2012.

As for Gibbsy, it’s hard to choose just one golden moment from the past two years to remember him by, but I’ve always been partial to this one. Was he spinning, or did he honestly believe that Hitler analogies were something new in the realm of presidential criticism? The debate shall rage forever. In case you’re depressed to see him go, here’s something from the C-SPAN archives that might cheer you up. Keep your eye on the bald guy in the back; that’s Daley, your (probable) new chief of staff.

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