Our new Chief of Staff is the old (Senate) Chief of Staff...

...at least for now.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will announce his resignation Friday, multiple administration officials said, continuing a series of key staffing changes ahead of the midterm elections.

Pete Rouse, a senior adviser who was President Obama's chief of staff in the Senate, is expected to fill the role at least on an interim basis, although several officials said he could wind up in the job permanently.

Obama will make two "personnel announcements" in the East Room at 11:05 a.m. Friday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday. Obama is expected to announce the Emanuel and Rouse moves at the same time, to maintain as much continuity as possible.

Emanuel has been setting the stage for his departure for weeks, since the moment outgoing Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (D) said he would not run for reelection. The question of whether and when Emanuel would leave has been a sizable distraction, people who work with the White House said, as other senior officials try to assess what the vacancy will mean and what other moves will be set in motion.

Rouse, a longtime former Senate staffer, is a popular choice among the White House staff. Already intimately involved in most major internal decisions, he is seen as a problem-solver, often wrestling with the president's most difficult dilemmas.

He is so well known in the Senate - where for many years he was a senior aide to then-Majority Leader Thomas Daschle - that he was often referred to as the 101st senator. Yet he has a much lower public profile than Emanuel's.

Beyond anything else, this is not a bad thing. The White House needs a change every once in a while.  With the exception of the President, these folks can't be expected to stay in their jobs for the full eight years (Hilly possibly excepted.  She seems to be lovin' that job.)  With Daley declaring he's not going to run again for Chicago Mayor, Rahm had to jump at this opportunity.

I've always been a Rahmbo fan. I like his style. I have found of the criticism he gets from the "professional left" a bit mystifying. It's like someone blaming the Offensive Coordinator for telling the Coach that we can't run the ball because the Defensive is too tough. Rahm's job was to read the tea leaves, and report what he thought could get done to his boss (you may know him as the President). The President calls the play.

From what I'm hearing, don't be surprised if Tom Daschle comes back to the White House as the permanent Chief of Staff, but that's just idle speculation at this point.  Moving over Biden's Chief of Staff (played by Kevin Spacey in the HBO Movie "Recount") also makes a lot of sense.