Remember how President Obama brought in Bill Daley a year ago to be his chief of staff in order to boost his credibility with the business world?

Well, that experiment is over.

Daley announced today, despite his recent announcement that he'd stick with Obama through the re-election campaign, that he is stepping down as White House chief of staff at the end of January. Daley's official reason is he wants to spend more time with the family – but you have to wonder if that's really it. After all, it was just three months ago he was pledging to stay until after election day. But a month later, Obama shifted many of Daley's day-to-day operational duties to Pete Rouse.

And, last week, Obama made a “recess appointment” to install Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency whose creation Daley opposed back before he joined the Obama administration.

Perhaps Daley realized he was appointed to put a pro-business face on an anti-business White House.

Of course, there's another possible reason why Daley, who said he'd stay through the re-election, has changed his mind.

Newsweek's Jonathan Alter wrote this a year ago when Daley came to the White House:

“The coverage of Bill Daley’s appointment as White House chief of staff has focused mostly on how he’ll use his stature as a grownup to work with Republicans on a growth package and help President Obama mend his relations with the business world. But White House insiders say these are all in service to a more baldly political goal: to get Obama reelected."

Perhaps Daley, a sharp political mind with a pretty good track record in the game, has concluded there's a good chance Obama isn't going to be re-elected, and he simply doesn't want to be there for the defeat.

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