At the end of a gruelling 21-month campaign that has already flecked his hair with grey, the hard work for Barack Obama is just beginning.

Yesterday he began the task of turning the tight inner circle of advisers that ran his formidable election machine into a unit capable of running an administration confronting economic convulsions at home and fragile security abroad.

Congressman Rahm Emanuel, a former adviser to President Clinton, has been asked to be his White House chief of staff. John Podesta, another veteran of that Administration, is expected to join Mr Obama’s aides Pete Rouse and Valerie Jarrett in leading the transition team.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs is tipped to be his press secretary, while there may also be a senior role for the election strategist David Axelrod. His campaign manager, David Plouffe, who is expecting the birth of his second child any day, however, appears more reluctant to take a role in the new White House, saying: “I’ve done my part.”

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BACKGROUND

• Bush - 'We should all be proud of Obama'

• The challenge that greets Obama

• Full video and text: Obama's victory speech

• Voters honour Martin Luther King's dream

Multimedia

• Team Obama - who are they?

• Bonjour 'Barack'

During the long campaign Mr Obama had become fond of quoting Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results.”

Neither the President-elect nor any of his sober, meticulous advisers is mad. In recent weeks, as it became more likely that he would win the election, they have been preparing for this day by reading their history.

They know how swiftly past victories have turned to despair. When the past two Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, entered the White House they also enjoyed substantial majorities in Congress. Mr Carter failed to win a second term after a presidency that has become almost a byword for dysfunction. Mr Clinton’s chaotic first two years – during which he was immediately blown off course by rows over gays serving the armed forces – allowed Republicans to surge back with a landslide in mid-term Congressional elections.

Particular attention is being paid to the latter despite – or perhaps because of – the fact that Mr Podesta was the former president’s chief of staff.

Mr Obama’s team prefer the model of Franklin Roosevelt, whose 1933 inauguration came in the depths of the Great Depression but went on to forge a Democratic coalition that was to stand firm for 20 years.

Not since then, say Democratic advisers, has an incoming president received such a poisonous inheritance. On top of global crisis and a federal deficit ballooning towards $1 trillion, there are two unfinished wars and a continuing national security threat from terrorists.

A further problem is the swell of expectation Mr Obama now faces around the world – and from Capitol Hill.

The people behind Obama’s victory

Rahm Emanuel, 48 This Illinois Congressman and former Clinton White House staffer, above far right, was the inspiration for Josh Lyman’s character in the TV series The West Wing. Emanuel did not endorse Obama until late in the primaries but has been a stalwart ally and liaison to the Jewish community. In Washington he is known to be hot-tempered, foul-mouthed, and extremely effective. Rumour says that he is to be Mr Obama’s Chief of Staff, bringing a wealth of experience to the White House

David Plouffe, 41 Barack Obama’s somewhat reclusive campaign manager, Plouffe is the man who engineered the surprise victory in the Iowa caucuses and reigned over one of the most disciplined campaigns in modern history. When Mr Obama trailed John McCain in the national polls in early September, Plouffe was the man reminding everyone to remain calm. In the end, he was right. Asked whether he’d take a job in the new administration, Plouffe responded: “I’ve done my part.”

David Axelrod, 52 The chief strategist behind Mr Obama’s historic win, David Axelrod is perhaps the country’s most successful political consultant who hasn’t moved to Washington. He engineered Mr Obama’s election to the US Senate in 2004 and stuck with him all the way to the White House. Axelrod’s hard-hitting style is largely responsible for the Obama campaign’s extremely aggressive approach to traditionally Republican strongholds. Whether or not he will move there now to join the administration in a Karl Rove-style role is the source of much speculation.

John Podesta, 59 Bill Clinton’s White House Chief of Staff from 1998 through to the end of his term, Podesta has been tapped to head President-elect Obama’s transition team. In his new role, he will help Mr Obama to identify Cabinet officials and key members of the incoming administration. Head of the liberal think-tank Centre for American Progress, Podesta stayed largely out of the Democratic primaries

Robert Gibbs, 37 Obama has called his communications director, Robert Gibbs, a “one-person Southern focus group”. Gibbs, who grew up in Alabama and attended school in North Carolina, has been with Mr Obama since 2004 and is widely expected to take a position inside the White House, perhaps as Press Secretary. He is one of very few people considered to be inside Mr Obama’s innermost circle

Valerie Jarrett, 51 A Chicago businesswoman, lawyer, and one of Mr Obama’s closest confidantes. Her close relationship as a long-time adviser to him leads most to believe that she will fill a prominent role. She was born in Iran, but has spent most of her life in Chicago

Reggie Love, 27 The 6ft 5in former basketball star is Mr Obama’s personal aide, who juggles a host of duties which include keeping him on schedule, providing Nicorette gum and playing basketball with him.

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