Obama Assembles Powerful West Wing

"That organizational change was built on the notion that that White House was all about turning the economy around," Neel said. "Rubin and [Treasury Secretary] Lloyd Bentsen worked pretty well together."

But Obama's approach is designed to go much further.

Browner, for example, in promoting Obama's "green" agenda, will attempt to exert authority across half a dozen federal departments and agencies, including Energy, Interior, Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency.

In announcing her appointment, Obama promised a new level of "coordination across the government, and my personal engagement as president" on energy and climate policy. He said Browner will have the power to "demand integration among different agencies; cooperation between federal, state and local governments; and partnership with the private sector."

Daniel J. Weiss, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, said, "The energy and global warming problems are so broad, it's a necessity to have a quarterback."

Similarly, Daschle, with his White House title, will have much broader authority than the typical health secretary. In coordinating a new approach to health care, he will touch on programs serving veterans, active military members and federal employees -- areas not within the jurisdiction of the Department of Health and Human Services.

In addition to Daschle, Browner and Carrion, Obama is hiring advisers to coordinate policy in the broad areas of technology, homeland security and government reform.

"It's unprecedented in the formality of it," Mackenzie said.

Staff writer Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report.