Who Really Runs Washington?

From the staff of Who Runs Gov

You already know the star players and big names in President Obama's regime. You've heard about David Axelrod, the campaign guru, and Larry Summers, the controversy-prone former president of Harvard, who both now serve as top White House advisers. Obama's campaign nemesis, Hillary Clinton, is of course, a household name. But sometimes it's the lesser-known figures who make the biggest mark.

In partnership with the Web site Who Runs Gov, here's the inside rundown on the most important but largely invisible hands in Obama's Washington. We've divided them into two categories: friends of Obama and his agenda, and those lesser-known wonks and politicos who are fighting him tooth and nail.

Friends

Mike Strautmanis is part of a close circle of Chicago friends that surround the Obamas in Washington. Strautmanis formed a friendship with the future first couple while working as a paralegal at the Chicago law firm Sidley Austin. He was part of the Clinton administration, and worked for the trial lawyers' association before putting down roots in Obama's Senate office. As Obama BFF Valerie Jarrett's chief of staff at the White House, he provides a sounding board for progressive groups upset with the path of health-care reform, and he helped beat back claims that the president's plan would result in "death panels" that could ultimately affect his autistic son. Strautmanis also spends much of his time building bridges to the business community and acts as a representative of Obama both inside and outside the White House.

Michele Flournoy , the Department of Defense under secretary for policy, has quietly been involved in just about every foreign-policy move in the new administration. After it leaked that Obama would be canceling a missile-defense shield in Central Europe, it was Flournoy who was sent to mollify surprised Czech and Polish leaders. She was dispatched to Capitol Hill recently to brief wary lawmakers about the way forward in Afghanistan. Flournoy has also been an emphatic voice for closing the terrorist detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, and took the lead in writing the Quadrennial Defense Review due out this fall, which will determine future U.S. strategic posture. With defense chief Robert Gates not expected to stay at the Pentagon for the long haul, watch for Flournoy's star to rise even higher.

Beth Noveck , the deputy White House chief technology officer, is known for introducing a collaborative process to the U.S. Patent Office, and she is now bringing Gov 2.0 technology to the White House. Her first endeavor was crowd-sourcing President Obama's transparency policy—or Open Government Directive—a move that invited over 900 user-generated ideas and 305 citizen drafts (which are currently being reviewed by the White House). Some of those public recommendations were not exactly original (legalizing marijuana, Obama's birth certificate, UFOs), but the White House still considers the effort a success.

Herbert M. Allison Jr . With all of the outrage over massive executive bonuses during the economic crisis, Allison was the rare exception. He came out of retirement (he was literally vacationing in the Caribbean when he got the call from Bush Treasury secretary Henry Paulson) to take over the reins of troubled mortgage giant Fannie Mae in September 2008. Allison refused a salary, (the 28-year Merrill Lynch exec probably doesn't need the money). Obama officials initially didn't want to steal Allison from Fannie for a top Treasury post. But they did so anyway; in April 2009, Allison became the overseer of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout program known as TARP. Taxpayers have already earned $4 billion in interest from bailing out Wall Street. "We have stepped back from the brink," Allison said in Sept. 24 testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.