One way to specify a model of quantum computing is to give a set of control Hamiltonians acting on a quantum state space whose initial state and final measurement are specified in terms of the Hamiltonians. We formalize such models and show that they can be simulated classically in a time polynomial in the dimension of the Lie algebra generated by the Hamiltonians and logarithmic in the dimension of the state space. This leads to a definition of Lie-algebraic "generalized mean-field Hamiltonians." We show that they are efficiently (exactly) solvable. Our results generalize the known weakness of fermionic linear optics computation and give conditions on control needed to exploit the full power of quantum computing.