WASHINGTON - January 9 - Bill Daley served as the Big Business conduit to the highest levels of the White House. He never should have been brought in, and it’s good to see him go.

Daley’s replacement, Jacob Lew, joined the Obama administration from Citigroup. It’s vital that he not serve as a Big Business channel to the president in the way Daley did.

It’s long past time for the Obama administration to abandon its unrequited affection for Wall Street and Corporate America. We live in populist times – enormous economic, political and ecological crises call out for populist policies that are both right on the merits and strongly favored by the public. Now’s the time for the administration finally to pursue a populist agenda.