Holbrooke lobbying to be secretary of State

Last spring, when Sen. Clinton's campaign ended, some Obama advisors predicted that their team would welcome her onetime aides. But they did not expect Holbrooke to win the job he wanted. Nevertheless, Holbrooke began campaigning hard for the post, said Obama advisors. He helped raise money for Obama, offered him advice, and argued his case in articles and on cable news shows. One article was headlined: "Why the Nation and the World Needs Barack Obama."

Holbrooke reportedly is being considered along with Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.); retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, the former NATO commander; Sen. Clinton (D-N.Y.); Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.); and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

The situation with Holbrooke underscores the predicament Obama faces in picking his national security team.

As an untested president, Obama wants national security aides who are respected and experienced. But some of the candidates carry baggage. As the standard-bearer of the call for change, he doesn't want the team to be dominated by recycled Clinton lieutenants.

Some Obama advisors say Holbrooke is just who Obama needs as he tries to wind down the Iraq war, refocus the flagging effort in Afghanistan and restore relations with Russia.

"He's a guy who gets things done," said Peter W. Galbraith, who was U.S. ambassador to Croatia during the Clinton administration.

"I wouldn't count Holbrooke out," said another Obama foreign policy advisor. "Obama's first goal is to have talented people around him."

Holbrooke originally supported the Iraq invasion but has criticized the handling of the war. Some liberal bloggers have denounced him as a neoconservative for his stance, while elsewhere he's been called a "liberal hawk."

Holbrooke, U.N. ambassador from 1999-2001, was chief architect of the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords that ended the war in Bosnia. He flew to Belgrade in 1999 to deliver the final ultimatum to Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic before NATO bombed Serbia to halt the conflict in Kosovo. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize seven times.

Holbrooke is vice chairman of Perseus LLC, a New York-based private equity company, and is active in efforts to fight disease and poverty abroad.

There also has been discussion of a senior intelligence post for Holbrooke. And some Obama team members have raised the possibility that Holbrooke might be named a high-level envoy for Iraq and Afghanistan -- an assignment that could impinge on the secretary of State's duties.

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paul.richter@latimes.com