President Barack Obama said Thursday that his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, would be an “excellent” mayor of Chicago, although he said not to expect Emanuel to announce any decisions until after the November elections.

“The one thing I’ve always been impressed with about Rahm is that when he has a job to do, he focuses on the job in front of him. And so my expectation is, he’d make a decision after these midterm elections,” Obama said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Emanuel, a former House Member, is not the only high-profile figure mulling a run to replace Mayor Richard Daley, who announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election in 2011 after holding the post for 21 years. Democratic Reps. Luis Gutierrez, Danny Davis and Jesse Jackson Jr. have all signaled that they might run. Jackson’s wife and brother have also publicly expressed interest.