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The principal burden of negotiating such a deal has fallen to Raines. He holds perhaps the highest economic-policy post ever achieved by an African American. Hardly anyone ever speaks of diversity when talking about him, though. He is accepted as simply a sharp intellect (Rhodes scholar, Harvard Law, vice chairman of the mortgage-finance institution Fannie Mae) and a classic American success story. Last year, when asked to join the board of Boeing, he recalled that his mother once cleaned the company's Seattle offices. In the budget negotiations, Raines a few days after the election naively tried to talk G.O.P. congressional leaders into joining the Administration in a united budget proposal. He lost, of course, but proved his resolute bipartisanship.
--By George J. Church. Reported by Michael Duffy, J.F.O. McAllister, Karen Tumulty and Adam Zagorin/Washington