President Obama has now hired one White House chief of staff who was a flame-thrower, another who was a spear-catcher, and a third who will be his sentry.

"When the president asked me to do this, I said I'd love to do it for two years through the re-elect. That's always been my plan," outgoing Chief of Staff William Daley said this past October. Obama announced Monday that Daley moved up his date of departure, deciding to return to private life later this month with the new and largely honorific title as a co-chairman of Obama's campaign.

Some of Daley’s admirers said in interviews that the former commerce secretary and member of a renowned Chicago political dynasty had been treated like a carpetbagger by Obama’s insular and “dysfunctional” White House team. Obama, they said, undercut Daley’s clout by overruling his early request to make some senior staff changes. The president, they added, hired Daley to reach out to the business community and to Republicans when Obama sought to govern as a centrist and thought he could win back the support of independent voters. When Obama’s enthusiasm for centrism faded, the president’s chief of staff caught the spears.

But Daley’s detractors -- many within the Democratic ranks on Capitol Hill -- quietly celebrated his impending departure. Last summer, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid repeatedly “raised his concerns” about Daley with Obama, said a former senior Senate leadership aide. Reid believed Daley was clinging to a mirage -- an ambition that Obama negotiate at length with congressional Republicans to achieve a $4 trillion deficit-cutting deal that was never there to get. Those negotiations, which were tied to a showdown over the debt ceiling, did not sit well with House and Senate Democrats who reviled the House Republicans. Ultimately, Obama’s unsuccessful efforts hurt his standing with the public, especially among independents, who saw the president as weak, according to polls.

“That’s why God created the chief of staff -- to tell you what’s possible,” the former aide told RCP. “By the time Daley was done, he almost made people want Rahm to come back,” he quipped, referring to the hard-charging and not always beloved Rahm Emanuel, now Chicago’s mayor.

It was just a year ago that Daley left the Windy City and a senior job at JPMorgan Chase to succeed former Illinois House member Emanuel as chief. At the time, Obama thought he needed to mend fences with the business community and court Republicans on Capitol Hill. Emanuel and others recommended Daley as chief. By the end, Daley’s Wall Street ties, his aging Rolodex, and his perceived thrall with House Speaker John Boehner undercut his effectiveness, sources explained. Daley had already announced he would leave after the election, and when he returned after the Christmas holiday last week, he told the president he was ready to go.

“Obviously, this was not easy news to hear,” Obama said during Monday’s surprise announcement in the State Dining Room. “Bill has been an outstanding chief of staff during one of the busiest and most consequential years of my administration.”

With Daley’s decision to depart, Obama said he accepted his aide’s recommendation that he appoint his capable budget director, Jacob “Jack” Lew, to serve as his third chief of staff.