Who's who on Obama's New Team

Since winning the US presidential election, Barack Obama has wasted little time assembling a team to help him govern.

CHIEF OF STAFF: RAHM EMANUEL

Rahm Emanuel is no stranger to the White House. He served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Bill Clinton and developed a reputation for forceful negotiation and unwavering loyalty.

In 2002, after leaving the White House, he was elected to the House of Representatives, representing Illinois's fifth congressional district.

Four years later, he was picked to head the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, presiding over the party's dramatic congressional gains in that year's mid-term elections.

His district takes in President-elect Obama's home city of Chicago and the two men are close friends.

Mr Emanuel's ties both to Mr Obama and to the Clintons meant that he avoided endorsing either leading candidate in the Democratic primaries.

As Chief of Staff, Mr Emanuel will be in charge of delivering the president's policy platform.

By appointing an "enforcer" like Mr Emanuel to the post, observers say Mr Obama is signalling that he means business.

Some liberal Democrats fear that Mr Emanuel - a moderate - will drag Mr Obama to the political centre.

Republican opponents are complaining that Mr Emanuel's partisan style will jar with Mr Obama's campaign promises to change the tone in Washington.

SENIOR ADVISER: DAVID AXELROD

As Mr Obama's Chief Strategist during his run for both the US Senate and the presidency, David Axelrod was always expected to follow the President-elect into the White House.

Mr Axelrod will serve as Senior Adviser to the president, with the power to oversee all presidential decisions and to meet the president at any time.

He has spent most of his career in Chicago politics, first as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, then as a consultant.

He acted as an adviser to Harold Washington - Chicago's first African-American mayor - and came to know fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama as the then-state senator rose through the ranks of the Illinois political scene.

Mr Obama chose him to run his successful 2004 campaign for one of Illinois's US Senate seats, and again when he decided to run for president in 2006.

TRANSITION CO-CHAIR: VALERIE JARRETT

Like David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett is a close friend of Mr Obama and a member of Chicago's political elite.

She worked for Chicago Mayor Harold Washington in the 1980s and for his successor Richard Daley, during which time she hired Mr Obama's then-fiancee Michelle Robinson to work for her.

She was the chair of Chicago's Transit Board from 1995 to 2005 before joining the Obama campaign as a senior adviser.

As co-chair (with John Podesta) of Mr Obama's transition team, Ms Jarrett will be instrumental in moulding the future shape of the Obama administration, and is likely to be given a high-profile job once the president-elect takes up his post.

TRANSITION CO-CHAIR: JOHN PODESTA

As a former Chief of Staff to Bill Clinton, John Podesta has plenty of White House experience to offer Mr Obama, as he helps lead the president-elect's transition team.

Since leaving Pennsylvania Avenue, Mr Podesta has been busy running the Centre for American Progress (CAP), the centre-left think tank he founded in 2003.

Mr Podesta, who remained close to the Clintons during the Bush years, backed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries.

Earlier this year he wrote a book - The Power of Progress - in which he outlined the key priorities he felt a new Democratic president should pursue.

In the light of his appointment as co-chair of the transition team, some observers have been studying his book for any clues about the direction of Mr Obama's administration.

He has declared his intention to remain at CAP once the transition is complete and will not join the administration.

TRANSITION CO-CHAIR: PETE ROUSE

The third leader of Mr Obama's transition team is Pete Rouse, 61, who served in Mr Obama's Senate office as Chief of Staff.

He had previously worked for Sen Tom Daschle, when Mr Daschle was the Democratic Senator Majority Leader, during which time he was known to many as "the 101st Senator".

His experience working under Mr Daschle gave him plenty of experience on Capitol Hill, and - as Deputy Chief of Staff in the Obama White House - he will be instrumental in the new president's attempts to push his policy platform through Congress.

PRESS SECRETARY: ROBERT GIBBS

Robert Gibbs, as Communications Director for the Obama campaign, has long been the president-elect's public face.

If, as US media outlets suggest, he is to take up a new post as White House Press Secretary, he will be the public face of the entire administration.

A southerner, Mr Gibbs worked for Mr Obama in his Senate office and served as a press secretary in John Kerry's 2004 presidential bid.

He made frequent appearances on television during the 2008 campaign, and was popular with members of the press.

source:news.bbc.co.uk