In selecting Tom Daschle as his secretary of health and human services, Barack Obama has given a crucial job to the man who was the president-elect’s chief mentor in Washington over the last four years. Daschle, the former Senate majority leader, will take charge of shaping Mr Obama’s plans to push universal healthcare through Congress - one of his top four priorities. But his role is likely to go far deeper than that.

When Mr Obama first came to the Senate in 2004, Mr Daschle was on his way out following a surprise defeat to his Republican challenger in his native South Dakota. Mr Obama’s success in recruiting Mr Daschle’s former chief of staff, Peter Rouse, to head up his own Senate office set them on the path to friendship.