Daley will step into one of the most important and influential jobs in American government as an adviser and gatekeeper to Obama. He will replace Pete Rouse, the interim chief of the last three months, a behind-the-scenes Obama adviser who did not want the position permanently and recommended Daley for it.

Rouse will remain as a counselor to the president, an elevated position from his former job as senior adviser.

Two senior administration officials confirmed Obama’s decision to The Associated Press.

Robert Gibbs, Obama’s White House spokesman, said Wednesday that he was quitting for the less demanding and more lucrative role of giving paid speeches and advising the president from the outside world. “The best service I can provide this president is, for the next couple of years, outside this building,” said Gibbs, who said he would leave his job in early February.

Gibbs is certainly not the first former press secretary to cash in on his time as the face of the administration. In the George W. Bush orbit, Dana Perino is a familiar face on cable and Ari Fleischer has opened his own consulting shop. From the Clinton universe, Dee Dee Myers has been a Vanity Fair contributing editor and a regular cable voice while Mike McCurry works for a big government relations firm in Washington.

With his departure, one of the most sweeping changes of top White House personnel in history is about to take place. As many as eight key jobs will soon be filled in an administration-wide game of musical chairs, among them the role of press secretary. 

Within just a couple of weeks from now, the president will have replaced his chief of staff (twice), two deputy chiefs of staff, his national security advisor, his top economic advisor, his top political advisor, and his spokesman.

One of the most common complaints heard from those inside the Obama administration is that the team around the president has been impenetrable.

In the Obama’s innermost circle, three members are gone or going — Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs.

Obama is also expected Friday to name treasury official Gene Sperling as the new head of the National Economic Council during a visit to a window manufacturer in the D.C. area. Sperling led the council under former President Bill Clinton and would replace the departing Lawrence Summers.

Former campaign manager David Plouffe will join the administration Monday.

Obama did manage to ruffle some feathers on Wednesday when he bid a sort-of farewell to Gibbs, noting the “relatively modest pay” for which Gibbs has labored. Gibbs has earned an annual salary of $172,200 in a country where the average family income hovers around $55,000, unemployment is high, record foreclosures persist and wages for most folks are at best stagnant.

Implicit in Gibbs’ departure is his desire to slow down, recharge and earn a lot more money, especially after an arduous several years where he’s been on call 24/7.

He has not had an official vacation in seven years, and has a seven-year-old son with whom he wants to spend time.

Now that he’s made his departure plans public, there have been discussions about two possible candidates as a new press secretary: Gibbs’s deputy, Bill Burton, and Jay Carney, the communications director for Vice President Biden. Administration officials said the search was only just beginning.

Burton, 33, a longtime Obama aide, has been the sole surrogate for Gibbs, taking the podium a handful of times in the White House briefing room and conducting more than 50 briefings on Air Force One or on the road. If chosen, he would be the first African-American press secretary. But he is relatively young, which some advisers have said could be a drawback.

Carney, 45, a former reporter and bureau chief for Time magazine, has helped revamp the image of a gaffe-prone Biden and been the rare outsider to find acceptance in the Obama circle. But he has not been tested at the podium before reporters — the central challenge of the job — and he has not managed communications during the cauldron of a political campaign.

Obama has said he would like to get his staff settled quickly. His State of the Union address, now less than three weeks away, will serve as the kickoff for the second half of his first term, as well as a template for how he launches his reelection bid — leaving him little time for the reshuffling.