"Barack Obama is the change agent,"

Obama's cabinet -- change or Clinton era retreads?

In Washington, the president is easily the most powerful driver of policy, and it is usually the White House which dictates strategy.

"The change agent in the United States government first and foremost in the US government is the president of the United States," said David Rothkopf, author of a pioneering book on the US national security council.

"Barack Obama is the change agent," he said.

"The entire US policymaking apparatus is orientated towards the US president," Rothkopf said.

"He is the one that ultimately decides who has power, he is the one who decides which agency has the lead on which issues."

While Obama is tapping veterans, he is bringing Chicago confidants like David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett to Washington -- and his reported Treasury pick Tim Geithner is well known to the markets in New York.

Change seems assured, as Obama is already striking a sharp course away from the Bush administration, when he takes office in January.

He has vowed to end the "denial" of US policy on global warming and to close the Guantanamo Bay 'war on terror' camp in Cuba.

Obama's gestures to vanquished opponent John McCain and renegade Democrat Joseph Lieberman also suggest at least a hope for a change of tone in the US capital.
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