Obama could pick Holder as first African-American attorney general

THE first black man elected US president is poised to name Washington lawyer Eric Holder as the nation’s first black attorney general — a historic appointment, but one with some potential political problems over a 2001 pardon.

Holder, 57, met President-elect Barack Obama only four years ago, but the affable Bronx-born son of a Barbados immigrant quickly won a seat in the Democrat’s inner circle. If he becomes the next chief US law enforcement officer, Holder will try to win back the public’s confidence in the Justice Department — an agency whose independent image was tarnished by GOP political meddling during the Bush administration.

“Internally, there is a morale problem the likes I have never seen,” Holder said last year. “Externally, there is a crisis of confidence the nation has with the department.”