In Congress, Lew’s stock is unusually high. He has emerged as one of the members of the Obama administration Republicans prefer working with. Earlier this year, Ben Smith, then at Politico, profiled Lew under the headline: “Lew: A liberal GOP says it trusts.” The piece included an admiring comment from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

Daley, by contrast, has struggled to win over both White House staff and Congress. The initial hope was that he would help win business and Republican support for the White House’s initiatives. Neither hope panned out. Relations between Republicans and the White House are at a low ebb. But under Daley’s leadership, relations between the White House and Hill Democrats also grew frayed. And few in the White House found him an inspiring leader or were impressed with the results of the strategy he helped craft through 2011.