Valerie Jarrett, Consigliere

Instapundit Glenn Reynolds cites a Tweet that describes Valerie Jarrett's White House staying power:

She is Yoko to Obama's John Lennon. The mother who won't abandon him.

For a less Freudian but more descriptive look at her role with Obama, see a New Republic article. I liken her role with Obama to that of Cardinal Richelieu with the French king - a puppet master, an eminence grise.