Did you notice the president-elect's new head of the Domestic Policy Council? The woman standing next to Larry Summers was Melody Barnes and she's a proud progressive. Not sure if Summers questioned her ability to do math, but she'll be in a very important position inside the Obama White House. The DPC is described like so:
The Domestic Policy Council coordinates the domestic policy-making process in the White House and offers policy advice to the President. The DPC also works to ensure that domestic policy initiatives are coordinated and consistent throughout federal agencies. Finally, the DPC monitors the implementation of domestic policy, and represents the President's priorities to other branches of government. [...]
Under President Bush, the Domestic Policy Council oversees major domestic policy areas such as education, health, housing, welfare, justice, federalism, transportation, environment, labor and veteran's affairs.
And a progressive will be doing this. This is huge.