* ‘Do I have some gas left in the tank?’ Holder asks
* Holder says civil rights enforcement has been rejuvenated
By David Ingram
BALTIMORE, Nov 8 (Reuters) – Attorney General Eric Holder
said on Thursday that he has yet to determine whether he will
stay on as the chief U.S. law enforcement officer for President
Barack Obama’s second term.
Speaking to law students at the University of Baltimore,
Holder said he still must speak with both Obama and his own
family while considering what he would contribute if he stayed.
“That’s something that I’m in the process now of trying to
determine,” he said.
Holder, 61, said the process included asking himself, “Do I
think that there are things that I still want to do? Do I have
some gas left in the tank?”
A White House spokesman had no comment on Holder’s future.
Several Cabinet members, including Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner, are weighing whether leaving before Obama’s
second term begins in January is the right time. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton has said she intends to move on.
Holder served in the U.S. Justice Department’s No. 2
position under President Bill Clinton, and Obama appointed him
attorney general in 2009. Both presidents are Democrats.
It is rare for an attorney general to serve more than four
years, and Republicans tried to oust Holder after a botched
department operation called “Fast and Furious” that targeted gun
trafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives dismissed a
congressional inquiry into Fast and Furious as politically
motivated, and the Justice Department’s inspector general
cleared Holder of any wrongdoing.
Holder has not previously committed one way or the other to
serving in a second Obama term.
He worked on Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, and the two
prominent black lawyers have similar backgrounds, including
immigrant fathers and degrees from Columbia University.
There could be symbolic reasons for Holder, the first black
U.S. attorney general, to stay on at least into 2013.
June will mark the 50th anniversary of the racial
desegregation of the University of Alabama, where Vivian Malone
– whose sister is Holder’s wife – was one of the first black
students.
DRUG POLICY AN ISSUE
Holder’s latest comments came in response to questions from
Ron Weich, dean of the University of Baltimore’s law school and
a former Justice Department official under Holder.
Weich asked whether Holder had thought about a second term,
what his plan is and whether he might serve through 2016, a
tenure that would match that of Clinton’s attorney general,
Janet Reno.
“I don’t know why you assume my service would have to stop
at 2016,” Holder quipped initially, appearing at ease on stage
with his former colleague.
“President Jeb Bush, President Marco Rubio, President
Hillary Clinton – any one of them might ask me to stay on,” he
said, referring to rumored 2016 presidential candidates from
both parties.
Speaking two days after voters in two states legalized
marijuana for recreational use, Holder said there should be a
broad discussion about U.S. drug policy.
“How much money have we spent? What are the results that
we’ve gotten?” he said, adding that the government might need to
make drug treatment a higher priority.
Asked by Weich to explain how one becomes attorney general,
Holder dead-panned: “Be friends with the president.”
Holder told the law students he was most proud of his having
rejuvenated the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the
unit charged with enforcing anti-discrimination laws in voting,
housing, education and other areas.
Democrats and civil rights organizations said this division
had wandered from its core mission during Republican George W.
Bush’s administration.
“You can really assess how good the Justice Department is by
how effective its Civil Rights Division is,” Holder said.
Obama’s re-election on Tuesday, defeating Republican
challenger Mitt Romney, confirmed the strength of the
administration’s priorities, Holder said.
“The fact that he won, and as conclusively as he did, is in
many ways a vindication of the policies that he talked about,”
he said.
