Jonathan Chait thinks Bill Daley ultimately failed as White House chief of staff — and was stripped of authority — because Americans “were not itching for Obama to make peace with corporate America. Americans are in an angry, populist mood — distrustful of government, but even more distrustful of business.”

First Read notes this is the message of the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll: “Heading into 2012, America is looking for a populist. According to the poll, a whopping 76% agree with the statement that the current economic structure of the country is out of balance and favors a small proportion of the rich over the rest of the country.”

White House chief of staff Bill Daley “turned over day-to-day management of the West Wing to Pete Rouse, a veteran aide to President Obama,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

The unusual recalibration of Daley’s portfolio “is designed to smooth any kinks in the president’s team as it braces for the overlapping demands of governing while campaigning for re-election, people familiar with the matter said. The West Wing is preparing for budget battles with Congress and is seeking to use its executive powers more extensively.”

The new set-up effectively makes Rouse the president’s inside manager and Daley his ambassador to Congress, “roles that appear to better suit both men’s talents.”

Politico: “Daley’s relationship with some of his West Wing colleagues has been strained, and many pined for Rouse, who served as a bridge between the volatile Rahm Emanuel, now the mayor of Chicago, and Daley, the son and brother of Chicago mayors — who assumed office just ten months ago.”

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds President Obama’s approval rate up a bit to 49%, with disapproval at 50%.

However, the poll also showed Obama would finish just behind Mitt Romney if the presidential election were held today, 44% to 43%, among registered voters. It was the first Reuters/Ipsos poll to show Romney ahead, although his slim lead is within the survey’s margin of error and technically a dead heat.

President Obama has passed his physical — and is “tobacco free” to boot, USA Today reports.

“Obama, who has been criticized for smoking, has told interviewers recently that he has kicked the habit… The two-page report concludes that Obama is physically active, eats a
healthy diet, stays at a healthy weight, and on occasion drinks alcohol
in moderation.”

Jonathan Alter says that while President Obama goes into his re-election campaign with a weak economy, he still has one asset that hasn’t received much attention: He’s honest.

“How did we end up in such a scandal-less state? … For starters, the tone is always set at the top. Obama puts a premium on personal integrity, and with a few exceptions (Tim Geithner’s tax problems in 2009) his administration tends to fire first and ask questions later. The best known example is Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department official who was mistakenly fired by her boss over a miscommunication that led higher-ups to believe — wrongly — that she had made inappropriate racially tinged remarks. In several other cases, the decision to give staffers accused of wrongdoing the boot was made within hours, taking the air out of any possible uproar.”

“It’s been a brutal three years. It’s been a very, very difficult three years, an incredible three years.”

— White House chief of staff Bill Daley, in an interview with Roger Simon.