File: White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, left, stands with former White House Counsel Greg Craig and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs at a White House briefing. (AFP)
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is expected to leave his job within six to eight months because he is fed up with the "idealism" of President Barack Obama's closest advisers, The London Daily Telegraph reported Monday.
The newspaper cited Washington insiders, who said Congress veteran Emanuel, 50, is also concerned about burning out and losing touch with his three children due to the pressure of the job.
"I would bet he will go after the midterms," said one source, a leading Democratic consultant.
"Nobody thinks it's working, but they can't get rid of him -- that would look awful. He needs the right sort of job to go to, but the consensus is he'll go."
"It might not be his fault, but the perception is there," said the consultant. "Every vote has been tough, from health care to energy to financial reform.
"Democrats have not stood behind the President in the way Republicans did for George W. Bush, and that was meant to be Rahm's job."
Emanuel is known as an abrasive pragmatist who has clashed with the idealistic inner circle around Obama.
Although he is believed to have a cordial working relationship with the President, The Telegraph reported Obama aides are frustrated that Emanuel "failed to deliver a smooth ride for the President's legislative program that his background promised."
The newspaper said Emanuel had told friends he envisaged the high-pressure White House role as an 18-month job. He is reportedly interested in running for mayor of Chicago, his home town.
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