He says:

Democrats connected with the White House say that Carol Browner, currently, the president’s senior adviser on energy and the environment, and the former EPA secretary under President Clinton, is a plausible candidate to be appointed White House chief of staff next year.

Ambinder offers a number of reasons why Obama might choose Browner. “She has more than enough experience dealing with Congress, with the rest of the government, and is a subject matter expert on the subject that will occupy a considerable amount of the President’s attention in the next two years,” he notes. In addition, he says she “supervised the response to the BP oil well spill, and the President is said to think that she did a terrific job with the limited sets of tools the government turned out to have.”

But he doesn’t address a couple of reasons why Obama would pass over Browner for the position. While she has been praised for her work on the oil spill response, she mischaracterized a key administration report on the amount of oil left in the Gulf after the spill.

A draft staff report on the administration’s oil spill response named Browner specifically in its criticism of the report, known as the “Oil Budget.”

Ms. Browner did not describe the Oil Budget as an operational tool designed to assist responders. Instead, some of her statements presented the budget as a scientific assessment of how much of the oil was “gone.” [...]

In addition, Ms. Browner and [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Jane Lubchenco] emphasized that the report was “peer-review[ed]” by federal and non-federal scientists. These references to peer review by two senior officials in a White House press briefing likely contributed to public perception of the budget?s findings as more exact and complete than the budget, as an operational tool, was designed to be.

At the same time, she is deeply unpopular with many Republicans, who have targeted her in their criticism of the administration’s so-called policy “czars,” key advisers who require no Senate confirmation.

Emanuel is going to need friends in Chicago as he explores a mayoral bid. What better place to start than those who you got into the White House? Some of Emanuel’s visitors are big Chicago businessmen, lobbyists and politicians.

These Chicago players include business leaders Sam Zell, The Tribune Company, John Rowe, Exelon, Leo Melamed, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Thomas Lanctot, William Blair & Company, Howard Gottlieb and Patrick Cermak, Wight & Company.

Those in the political realm include Bill Daley, former Commerce Secretary and brother to current Mayor Richard Daley, John Cullerton, President of the Illinois State Senate, Sheila Gutman, major Democratic donor and Emanuel’s own former staffer John Borovicka, now with William & Blair.

How these contacts play out practically, if at all, remains to be determined. In light of earlier reports about News Corp.’s million dollar donation to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, however, it’s also worth noting a rather unlikely White House visit Blumenthal uncovered from one “Keith R. Murdoch”:

One meeting that appears in the White House visitor logs that may seem unexpected is a June 9, 2010 meeting with one Keith R. Murdoch. Does the “R” stand for Rupert? In his book The Promise Jonathan Alter revealed that Emanuel kept a back channel open to NewsCorp owner Rupert Murdoch, who’s real name is Keith Rupert Murdoch. I have not yet confirmed whether this is actually Rupert Murdoch, but I will let you know when I do.

Just one more reason for the liberal wing of the Democratic party to be thrilled by Rahm’s departure.

The Washington Post, for one, has a lengthy profile that sets up a marked contrast, no doubt aided by a White House looking to present a noticeable sign of change, between the hard charging Emanuel and the conciliatory, “ego-free” Rouse:

Few people outside Washington, and not many inside, have heard the name Pete Rouse. The man President Obama will name as his interim White House chief of staff on Friday is a quiet political player who avoids the spotlight. He does not suit up for the Sunday talk shows; there are no stories about him reducing staff members to tears for their slip-ups.

He is in many ways the opposite of Rahm Emanuel, the brash chief of staff he will replace.

While Emanuel spent nearly two years as a prominent public face of the Obama administration, Rouse sat just around the corner in the West Wing, fixing problems. A trusted adviser dating back to Obama’s first days in the Senate, Rouse helped guide Obama’s Washington rise. Obama once described Rouse as “completely ego-free.”

But the Post’s own Ezra Klein notes, in fact, that lots of people in Washington have heard of Mr. Rouse. Quoting from an old profile he helped author, Klein writes:

Often called “the 101st Senator,” Rouse, an understated 62-year-old with 30-odd years of Capitol Hill experience, had been Tom Daschle’s powerful chief of staff. When Daschle was ejected from the Senate, he hoped Rouse would continue to work with him in the private sector. But Rouse received an expected call from Cassandra Butts, the policy director on Dick Gephardt’s 2004 presidential campaign and an old law school chum of Obama’s. Butts asked Rouse to meet with the newly elected Obama. Grudgingly, Rouse had lunch with the young senator. Obama asked him to sign on as chief of staff–a demotion of sorts, dropping Rouse from the office of the most powerful Senate Democrat to that of the most junior member of the body. Rouse politely declined. Obama kept asking. Eventually, Rouse accepted.

All of which seems to indicate that while he may not plan to bash as many heads as Rahm, his approach to dealing with Congress will likely be quite similar:

The Obama administration has often been criticized for adopting an overly deferential approach to Congress, but it’s staffed by longtime congressional hands who strongly believe that this is the right approach to take to Congress if you actually want to get anything done in it. Rouse’s ascension suggests that little is likely to change in that regard.

Restore balance to the Army: Casey discussed the need to return to the one year out, two years back rotation as OIF draws down.

This is so absolutely positively not going to happen this year it’s bewildering. Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that rebalancing so-called deployment-to-dwell time is on the backburner until at least 2012. What in the world is Casey talking about? If he’s raising expectations that the deployment/dwell ratio is getting rebalanced this year, that’s not fair to his soldiers and their families.

Rep. Rahm Emanual, chairman of the Democratic caucus, will be the chief of staff for president-elect Barack Obama, according to reports.

The Illinois Democrat is known for his temper, a sailor’s mouth and an uncanny ability to win elections. Indeed, it was Emanuel who headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the Democrats’ dramatic takeover in 2006.