White House to undergo top-tier staff overhaul

Many in Washington hope that Obama could use the changes to mark a fresh start.

Known as Rahmbo by friends and enemies alike and assigned the code name Black Hawk by the secret service, Emanuel's frequent impulsive style of management helped mark Obama's rollercoaster ride in the White House during the past 20 months.

Emanuel, 50, is notoriously short-tempered and some pundits have attributed his desire to leave to personality differences with the president.

Emanuel's tenor as chief of staff certainly has been surrounded by criticism, including those who say that he managed the White House rather than the administration as a whole.

The departures include key White House aides such a senior Obama adviser David Axelrod who is leaving early 2011 to work on Obama's re-election campaign.

The top tier of Obama's economic team is also seeing big changes. Senior White House economic adviser Larry Summers plans to leave by the end of the year. Obama has already had to replace Peter Orszag as budget chief and Christina Romer as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.

White House national security adviser, retired Marine General Jim Jones, is expected to step down later this year. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who remained from the Bush administration, has signaled his intention to resign sometime in 2011, when Admiral Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military officer, is also expected to retire.

That would leave Obama with three top national security jobs to fill - which many say is a daunting task for a first-term president moving to finish it troop drawdown in Iraq next year and start one in Afghanistan; Kazinform cites Arab News.

See www.arabnews.com for full version.