Thankfully, the other women in his life were present on January 20 to listen to his inaugural speech on Capitol Hill. "Baby Face" undoubtedly thought of the women in his life while the whole world listened. Michelle, his wife and "rock", and his daughters were beside him, while his sisters, Maya and Auma, sat in the first row. The 44th President of the United States of America just had to turn his head to read the look of victory in their eyes. Although only five females were amongst his closest collaborators during the campaign, women have always been at the heart of his bid for the White House.

Obama was abandoned by his father when he was only two years old, creating a void in his identity. "But, Obama, like Clinton and Lula, the Brazilian president, rejected their fathers and step fathers as role models to follow the female figures surrounding them," according to a sociologist. Raised by their mothers, but free from any male rivals, they developed an early potential as well as outstanding qualities of openness and the ability to listen. However, the mentors of these well-known men were not perfect. Stanley Ann was egocentric and Toot, who devoted herself to educating him, was severe. They were neither victims nor particularly kind. But, the first black American president's vision of society revolved around them and they would continue to affect the decisions he takes.

Thanks to his upbringing, Obama has never had to use his physical characteristics to attract female supporters. He defends the right for women to have equal wages and the right to abortion and promises reforms in areas like education and health insurance.

Valerie Jarrett is known as the "other side of Obama's brain". In the mid 80s, Obama was a young social worker wandering around Chicago ghettos, listening carefully to complaints from their inhabitants. It was Valerie Jarrett and others from the Illinois administration who coached him and opened the doors of their precious networks for him. Their partnership went back to 1991, when this ex-lawyer from a Chicago-based black family was one of the city's most influential women. She was the mayor's right hand and met Obama, who was newly engaged to Michelle Robinson, her assistant, at a dinner. She quickly identified herself with Obama's cosmopolitan path. Jarrett was born in 1956 and raised in Shiraz, Iran where her father, a doctor, was in charge of a hospital financed by American international aid. She lived her adolescence trotting across the globe before she returned to her roots, the black capital of the Middle West. She helped Obama win his first election in the pitiless political environment of Chicago within five years. Divorced and single since 1987, Jarrett's the mother of a Harvard student and owns a company in charge of the social residential units' park in Chicago. As the mastermind of Obama's campaign, she was designate as his political adviser in the White House. She will be the mediator between members of the administration and Congress, a well-tailored job.

Obama was on the verge of tears on January 28, 2008, when Caroline Kennedy, JFK's daughter, announced her support for him. Sweet Caroline wrote an article in "The New York Times", entitled 'A President Like My Father'. She saw the incarnation of a new generation with Obama and may become the US ambassador to the UN.

The multi-racial ambassadors and rich talk show diva, is another well-known figure in Chicago. She used to attend Trinity Church, the same place of worship Obama and his family went to. Winfrey is one of the few black personalities capable of overcoming racial divisions. Out of the nine million spectators she gets daily, two-thirds are mothers of white families and eight out of 10 Americans appreciate her. By standing beside him, she attracted 20,000 people during their first joint meeting.

Rice, a young expert in international diplomacy, was a ferocious attacker on basketball courts. The quality lady seduced Obama, a sportsman. With diplomas from Oxford and Stanford, she has coached Obama since 2004, when he entered the Commission of Foreign Affairs in the Senate. By 29, Rice became a member of the Council of National Security in Bill Clinton's administration, and she was designated to the State Department three years later. Madeleine Albright's protegee has been courageously committed against the war in Iraq since 2002.

JANET NAPOLITANO

Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, Kathleen Schelius of Kansas and Claire McCaskil, Senator of Missouri, are three other heavyweights. At the beginning of 2008, Napolitano challenged the establishment by backing Barack rather than Hilary Clinton. The thing these democrats have in common is they were elected in states which are Republican in majority. Napolitano, who has reinforced surveillance over the frontiers of Arizona and Mexico, calls for the regularisation of the situation of illegal immigrants in the US. She was designated as the State Secretary for Internal Security, a portfolio which puts her in charge of immigration and fighting terrorism.

The Girls America has come to know as first daughters

MALIA AND SASHA:

Obama's lovely daughters are in the midst of the change of a lifetime. Malia, 10, and Sasha, 8, will be the White House's youngest residents since Amy Carter. The privilege is "so cool" according to Sasha, who has been promised they will be accompanied by a small dog by her father. They lived with their grandmother around two years ago, when their mother had to join the campaign trail. The two daughters communicated with their father on a daily basis through webcam and met him wherever he was over the weekend.

JENNA AND BARBARA BUSH:

"Do you think I have white hair because I am President? Not at all, it is because I have two teenage girls," George Bush said in 2006. Seemingly causing more anxiety than the war in Iraq, Jenna and Barbara, the "first twins", as they are called, are turbulent. Party goers like their father in his heyday, they have often been in the headlines. In 2002, they used Jenna's false ID to order alcohol in a bar in Austin, Texas. Secret service agents intervened before the police were called, but the girls were condemned for consuming alcohol before they were legally allowed to. However, the 26-year-olds seem to have settled down. Last May, Jenna, who became a teacher, married a Republican. They live in Baltimore. Barbara is single. Like her sister, she went on several humanitarian missions. She lives in New York, where she works for several activities of the city's museums.

CHELSEA CLINTON:

Her mother insisted she live a normal life and prevented the cooks in the White House from preparing her snacks so she could make them herself Chelsea was 12 when she moved in to the White House in 1993 with her cat, Socks. She was not sad to leave "her big white prison" to study at Stanford, some time before the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Re 28-year-old Chelsea lives in New York and works on Wall Street.

AMY CARTER:

She was nine years old when her father, Jimmy Carter, won the presidential elections in 1976. Her smile, covered in braces, made the headlines. As a public school student, Amy spent school recreation times stuck inside because the playground was very close to the street and was considered to be dangerous by her bodyguards. She was so frustrated she finally rebelled. In 1987, she was caught by the police during a students' protest. She lives with her nine-year-old son and her husband, an IT man, in Atlanta, where she works for a foundation founded by her father.

SUSAN FORD:

The pressure was too much for Susan. The way the media intruded into her private life, revealing her school results and romances, was unbearable for her. Susan married one of her father's body guards and worked as a press photographer for various agencies. She remarried a lawyer in 1989, and lives with their five children in New Mexico.

ALICE ROOSEVELT: