Klain, the White House chief of staff, is among the key architects of that success, cementing his status as one of the most skilled US political managers of his generation. "No one was as well prepared to be White House chief of staff, and up to now I think he's living up to that," says Chris Whipple, author of The Gatekeepers, a book about the role. "If the Trump White House was a smoking, backfiring jalopy, then the Biden White House is a finely tuned Rolls-Royce". [...]

One of Klain's most high-profile assignments during the Obama years was managing the Ebola outbreak, which prepared him for coronavirus. "He knows how government works and how to make it work," says Tom Frieden, former head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Klain has also had a spell as a lobbyist, working for clients including Fannie Mae, the government-backed mortgage giant. He was also general counsel at Revolution LLC, the venture capital firm founded by Steve Case, former CEO of AOL.

Over the years, he has gained a reputation for his approachability. "He is one of the most even tempered [people in Washington], which is a rare quality sometimes in politics these days," says Tom Daschle, the former South Dakota senator who hired him in the 1990s.

Not everything has gone flawlessly. Klain has had to deal with the botched nomination of Neera Tanden for budget director; the White House's struggles to address a surge in migration across the southern border and heavy criticism for hesitating to raise the cap on refugees, a key campaign pledge. Republicans have accused the White House of overly aggressive tax-and-spending policies and said the president has not lived up to his vows of bipartisanship.

But Klain is not easily rattled, people close to him say. "A genuine strength is the ability to not let any immediate twist or turn derail an overall strategy or derail the building -- not to let people get down on themselves or decide that all is lost," says Anita Dunn, the senior White House adviser.

Some allies of the president believe Klain has the potential to be one of the most effective White House chiefs of staff ever. But Whipple says it's too early to tell. "The hard part of being chief of staff is walking into the Oval Office, closing the door and telling the president what he doesn't want to hear. He may be up to that, and he may not. Some White House chiefs who become too close to the boss have a hard time".

For now at least, Democrats are generally thrilled with Klain's performance. "He is putting out fires big and small, he is solving problems and helping deliver on promises," says Scott Mulhauser, a former Obama administration official. "That's what you want from your chief of staff".