Ellen Moran is leaving her post as White House Communications Director to become the Chief of Staff at the Department of Commerce. As Politico’s Ben Smith says, it’s not a common trajectory.

The AP reminds us that Moran was the only member of President Obama’s inner circle that did not have a long term relationship with him, and did not play a role in the epic two-year campaign to win.

To call it a frat house would be unfair as there are so many women in White House positions of power. However, dare we hazard an uninformed guess, she served her usefulness getting the Communication department organized in the first 100 days–skills learned from running EMILY’s List.

Like Bush and his longtime relationship with Karl Rove and Karen Hughes, Obama seems to have messaging and positioning duties more than covered with David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs.

[photo via New York Times magazine from NY Times Mag: Meet Obama's Communications Team]