Barack Obama

What he is, say people in both parties, is a master at melding policy and politics, where others specialize in one or the other. That is despite work habits that for years spawned anecdotes of long hours and longer tables (to hold all the papers), spilled ink (details below) and late-night calls. By all accounts, marriage and two children have made him more efficient since his time in the Clinton circle, though his Treasury office was called BOG, pun intended, for Bureau of Gene.

While Mr. Hubbard calls Mr. Sperling a centrist, and critics on the left agree, Mr. Sperling has always considered himself a liberal who is pragmatic about what is possible in politics, much like Mr. Obama