The West Wing

For many of us, discussion of any of Obama's new senior staff members engenders only one question: "Who was that on 'The West Wing'?"

Well, wonder no more. The UK Guardian has published this helpful guide.

(By the way, don't forget that Obama was the model for Jimmy Smits' character Matt Santos.)

The layout of the White House under the Obama administration.

1. President

Barack Obama. In the West Wing: Jed Bartlett

2. Personal secretary to the president

Katie Johnson. In The West Wing: Dolores Landingham

Johnson, 27, part of the team of 20-somethings accompanying Obama from the Chicago campaign office to the White House, will maintain the president's daily schedule. The personal secretary is typically a low-profile job - or was until Clinton's, Betty Currie, was called as a witness in the Monica Lewinsky affair. She will sit at a desk just outside the Oval Office, next to Reggie Love.

3. Personal aide to the president

Reggie Love. In The West Wing: Charlie Young

Love, 26, the handsome young "body man" to Obama during the campaign, will be at the president's side for much of the day. He will keep the president in snacks, chewing gum and drinks, and tend to his personal needs from a desk in a small office beside the Oval one. A former Duke University basketball player, Love introduced the president to the fist-bump and the rapper Jay-Z.

4. Press secretary

Robert Gibbs. In The West Wing: CJ Cregg

Gibbs, 37, a travelling companion to the president during the campaign, will be the man behind the podium at news conferences. Aside from Obama's, his is the public face of the administration. Gibbs was a top strategist during the campaign, and is said to be close to Obama - a plus for reporters seeking better access to the president's thinking and deliberations

5. Communications director

Ellen Moran. In The West Wing: Toby Ziegler

Moran, 42, is former executive director of Emily's List, an abortion-rights advocacy group that incidentally endorsed Hillary Clinton during the primary campaign. She also worked for the AFL-CIO, a coordinated advertising efforts for the Democratic National Committee in 2004. She will occupy tiny office, barely the size of a broom closet, but one on the first floor of the west wing.

6. Deputy communications director

Dan Pfeiffer. In The West Wing: Sam Seaborn

Pfeiffer, 33, was a travelling press secretary and communications director for the presidential campaign, and is married to Sarah Feinberg, a top aide to Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. He also will sit in a tiny office beside his boss Moran. He previously worked for several Democratic senators, and Al Gore's 2000 campaign for president.

7. Deputy national security adviser

Thomas E Donilon. In The West Wing: Kate Harper

Donilon is a governing partner of O'Melveny & Myers, a giant international law firm. He was a state department aide under Clinton, and was involved in Bosnia and Middle East peace negotiation, Nato expansion, and US-China relations. He will occupy a cubbyhole on the first floor of the west wing, in the opposite corner from the Oval Office.

8. National security adviser

James Jones. In The West Wing: Nancy McNally

Jones, 65, a retired marine corps general, will brief Obama daily on intelligence reports deemed vital to national security (a key paper that went overlooked was entitled "Bin Ladin [sic] determined to strike in US"). In times of crisis he will operate from the White House situation room. He will occupy a large corner office down the hall from Rahm Emanuel.

9. Vice-president

Joseph Biden

10 and 11. Deputy chiefs of staff

Mona Sutphen and Jim Messina. In The West Wing: Josh Lyman

Sutphen, 41, is a former foreign service officer who worked on the National Security Council under Clinton, at the US mission to the United Nations, and at the embassy in Bangkok. Messina, 39, was chief of staff to the presidential campaign, and was a top aide to two Democratic senators and a congresswoman. The two will occupy tiny, windowless offices in the middle of the Oval Office's first floor.

12. Senior adviser

David Axelrod

The man credited with shaping the media message that helped put Obama in the White House is following him there. David Axelrod, 53, a former political reporter and Chicago political consultant, was Obama's chief strategist during the campaign and also led his 2004 senate campaign. He is a trusted political adviser and will occupy a tiny office next to the president's private study.

13. Senior adviser

Pete Rouse

Rouse, 62, another in Obama's close coterie of "senior advisers", was chief of staff in Obama's senate office. Before that he was a top aide to Democratic senators Tom Daschle of South Dakota and other Democratic politicians. He is one of the small group of advisers who helped Obama through the decision to run for president. He will occupy an office next to Axelrod.

14. White House chief of staff

Rahm Emanuel. In The West Wing: Leo McGarry

Emanuel, 49.a former political aide to Bill Clinton, Illinois congressman and investment banker, takes the job described as "chief javelin catcher" in the White House. He will maintain a gruelling work schedule, tasked with briefing the president, managing the White House staff, and acting as gate keeper to the information and people that reach the Oval Office. He will occupy a large corner office down the hall from the Oval Office.

White House counsel

Greg Craig, 64, a former aide to Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy, will be the lawyer to the president, advising Obama on legal prerogatives and authority. As a civil and criminal attorney, Craig has had a hand in some of the most important national affairs in recent decades. He represented the father of Elian Gonzalez, the refugee child who was repatriated to Cuba over demands he stay in the US.

Director of the White House military office

Louis Caldera, 52, will run the White House military office, which handles the day-to-day operations of the White House - keeping its occupants fed and medically sound. In past administrations has been charged with handling the "nuclear football", the briefcase of nuclear launch codes. Caldera was secretary of the army under Bill Clinton, and is former president of the University of New Mexico.

White House social secretary

Desiree Rogers, 49,is a New Orleans native and former insurance executive. She is a long-time Chicago friend to the Obamas. She will be responsible for planning galas and state dinners at which Obama will host heads of state, governors, the world's cultural elite, and other VIPs. It is a enormous task - in one year alone, the Clinton White House threw 400 events.

Director of scheduling and advice

Alyssa Mastromonaco, 32, was responsible for scheduling virtually every minute of Obama's time during the presidential campaign. Her role in the White House will be even more complex, as organisations like the secret service and speech writing offices will have a say in the president's day-to-day activities. She will oversee a staff of about 35 that will include a "diarist" to record the president's moves.

Senior adviser

Valerie Jarrett, 52, is senior adviser and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison. A real estate executive, lawyer and former Chicago city hall aide, Jarrett is a close confidante of Obama - he celebrated her birthday in Chicago in the days after the election. Jarrett occupies the second-floor office once used by Hillary Clinton when she was first lady.