Top Row: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Bob Woodward, Teresa Heinz Kerry, John Kerry, Don Graham, Adrian and Michelle Fenty, Vice President Joseph Biden and Jill Biden. Second row: Rep. Barney Frank, Desirée Rogers, Victoria and Sen. Ted Kennedy, Valerie Jarrett, Timothy Geithner, Eric Holder and Sharon Malone, Peter Orzsag, Jane Stanton Hitchcock. Third row: Sen. Mark Warner, Alexandra Wentworth and George Stephanopolous, Justice Antonin Scalia, Elizabeth and George Stevens, Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Queen Noor, Robert Duvall, Roger Sant. Fourth row: Katharine Weymouth, Justice Stephen Breyer, Sheila Johnson, Plácido Domingo, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Amb. Pierre Vimont, Ted and Annette Lerner, Sen. Harry Reid.

Big changes are always in store when a new president takes office. The “out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new” transition of power is even more historic when a change of party occurs (check) and especially when a two-term presidency ends (double check). Barack and Michelle Obama are also younger than their predecessors (they were born at the end of the Baby Boom era; the Bushes at its very beginning), and, most relevant of all, are the first African-Americans to occupy the White House.

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Guests Do a Double Take When They Enter a Room.

MARION BARRY
Will the former “Mayor-for-Life’s” woes (controlled substances, a kidney transplant, unpaid taxes) ever end?

ROLAND BURRIS
Barack Obama’s Senate replacement was canny enough to get appointed, but can he keep his seat?

ALAN GREENSPAN
The former Fed chairman is getting blamed for not sounding his warning about “irrational exuberance” a lot sooner, louder, and longer.

“SCOOTER” LIBBY
Liar or scapegoat notwithstanding, there’ll be no pardon anytime soon for Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff.

DONALD RUMSFELD
The former defense secretary can’t even walk down a public street without being accosted by irate opponents of the war in Iraq and the torture of prisoners there.

LAWRENCE SMALL
An “imperialistic and insular” management style and excessive perks doomed the Smithsonian secretary’s reign despite his impressive fundraising achievements.

DAVID VITTER
Getting exposed as a client of a notorious madam hasn’t stopped the Louisiana senator’s moralizing against gambling, abortion, and same-sex marriage.

The A List

WL’s list of head-turners.

Top from left to right: Steven and Jean Case, Vernon and Ann Jordan, James Kimsey, Jacqueline Mars. Bottom from left to right: Paul and Nancy Pelosi, Roger and Victoria Sant, and Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn.

It’s hard to elicit a physical response from a Washington crowd; that is, to “turn” a head. Although we’ve produced this list for several years, 2008’s A-list has seemingly evolved into a roster of national names rather than one merely dedicated to the stars in our local firmament; after all, 2008’s elections have brought some bonafide rock stars to town. All eyes have been on Ben Bernanke to solve our financial woes, and we’ve all been waiting with baited breath to find out whether Christopher Hitchens will finally quit smoking (maybe it would help if he had God on his side). We said goodbye to longtime favorites Joe Gibbs, as well as beloved British Ambassador Sir Manning and his wife, Lady Catherine. While farewells are always sad, they make way for new faces such as financial heavyweight David Rubenstein and Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson. Over the years, we’ve found that A-list status is less about the job and rank than one might think; it’s about having a personality that electrifies the room. We’re happy they’re here.

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Heads turn when they enter the room.

By Ann Geracimos

Photograph by Fred J. Maroon. M. Maroon's son, Marc, has recently launched an initiative to offer digital prints from his father's Washington, D.C. Collection, entitled "Poetic Washington" to local charity events. For more informatino, go to fredmaroon.com.

Power is as power does. It’s a flexible force in this town. No wonder we denizens often take refuge in lists, a comfort zone of sorts in a world where the reality is constantly shifting.

Lists turn up everywhere. The form suits a place that thrives on hierarchy – on knowing just who owns a predetermined political status. The government’s plum list of political jobs is the apotheosis of this. Keeping everyone happy: giving them a title, an objective count of who’s in and who’s out. And why not? That is small comfort in the face of the conditions of daily life that threaten to overwhelm one’s sense of identity.

There is comfort in knowing about rank because it makes it easier to navigate the terrain. After all, who is responsible for the saying that rules (rank and reputation) are made to be broken? It gives a lift to the spirit to know the Calvinist ideal of predestination is not entirely dominant.

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