Panjandrum

pan·jan·drum
–noun
a self-important or pretentious official.

In my goal to look up words I come across of whose meaning I'm unaware, here is the latest.

I found it in this article by Peggy Noonan (one of my favorite political commentators). Here is the quote concerning Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Barak Obama:

But people do what they know how to do, and objects at rest tend to stay at rest, and Teddy has long led a comfortable life as a party panjandrum who knew to sit back and watch as the dog barked and the caravan moved on. In a way he seemed to rebel against his own tendencies. He put himself on the line.

See how the sentence is enhanced now that you know the meaning of this very well chosen word!