News Analysis: Obama shifts strategy with staff shakeup

It's not unusual for a president to reshuffle staff at term's halfway point, but President Barack Obama's recent pick for some of the most powerful jobs in Washington might represent a significant shift in his governing strategy.

With his new selection of the White House chief of staff and the director of National Economic Council (NEC), Obama may pursue a path different from his first two years -- a more centrist, pragmatic and corporate-friendly way.

CLINTON-ERA OLD FACES

Many of the new figures elevated to the top positions in the White House are veterans of the Clinton administration.

William Daley, Obama's pick for his new chief of staff, served as Bill Clinton's Commerce Secretary; the new NEC director, Gene Sperling, held the same job under Clinton; Jason Furman, the newly promoted principal deputy at the NEC, served as a White House staff economist under Clinton; and Katharine Abraham, a new member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, served in Clinton 's Labor Department.

The moves would signal an effort by the White House to tap into the experience of the last Democratic administration, which had faced similar predicament as Obama does today -- a divided government.

After suffering a disastrous loss in midterm elections in 1994, Clinton designed a strategy known as "triangulation," which basically means to pursue a centrist and moderate path, to cope with the emboldened Republicans in Congress, and successfully won a second term.

The Clinton administration could be a template for Obama also because it has done a pretty good job in growing the economy and turning federal deficits to surpluses. The landscape of the economy and deficit in the next two years is considered vital to Obama's reelection chances, but he has yet to make real progress.

"One of the reasons I've selected Gene is he's done this before ... in his tenure in the Clinton administration during the late ' 90s, he helped formulate the policies that contributed to turning deficits to surpluses and a time of prosperity and progress for American families in a sustained way," Obama said while announcing the Sperling pick.

CENTRISTS WITH BIPARTISANSHIP

Bringing someone who held different perspectives into his inner circle would indicate that Obama is willing to moderate his views and take a middle path.

Daley, a centrist, has criticized Obama as going far left. In December 2009, he wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post, urging the Obama administration to be more centrist in order to win back moderate and conservative Democrats who have shown increasing dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party.

"The Democratic Party -- my lifelong political home -- has a critical decision to make: Either we plot a more moderate, centrist course or risk electoral disaster not just in the upcoming midterms but in many elections to come," he wrote.

Sperling, though considered as more liberal, has shown clear traits of pragmatism with record of bipartisanship.

He was among the architects of the tax-cut deal that Obama reached with Senate Republicans during the lame-duck session last month. He also played a big role in the bipartisan deficit- reduction deal President Clinton negotiated in 1997.

Analysts say the two newcomers' moderate views and pragmatic bent would make Republicans more comfortable in dealing with the White House.

After the announcement of the Daley pick, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called it a "hopeful sign."

"Frankly, my first reaction is that it sounds like a good idea, " he said.

Obama has shown some early signs of turning to centrist path and seeking bipartisanship when he helped broker agreement with Republicans on major pieces of legislation during the lame-duck session.

This strategy may particularly appeal to independent voters, whose ballots are crucial for Obama to get reelected. Independents, who in 2006 and 2008 mostly voted for Democrats, turned to Republicans in November's midterms.

POLITICIANS WITH CORPORATE TIES

The Daley pick may also indicate Obama is ready to mend the frayed relationship with business community.

Daley is a top executive at banking giant JPMorgan Chase and also sits on the board of directors at several corporate titans including Boeing. His close ties to the business world may help Obama improve relations with Corporate America, which have become sour in his first two years.

In pushing through his top legislative priorities such as healthcare reform, Wall Street regulation and climate-change policy, the president has angered industries including insurance, financial services and energy.

Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has been a harsh critic of the Obama administration and has spent millions of dollars attacking Democratic candidates in the midterms, called the Daley pick a "very strong choice."

"Bill Daley is a man of stature and extraordinary experience in government, business, trade negotiations, and global affairs," he wrote in a statement.

In another possible move to mend fences, Obama is scheduled to speak to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the most powerful business group in the country, on Feb. 7.