Barack Obama is close to announcing the nomination of Eric Holder to become America’s first black Attorney-General as he juggles his supporters’ desire for change, the need for experienced officials and intense pressure on him from interest groups.

A series of reports last night claimed that Mr Holder had accepted an offer from the President-elect to lead the Justice Department. And although his appointment would underline to the black community the transformative message of Mr Obama’s own election, it would also amplify concerns that promises to reform Washington are being watered down.

Mr Holder, 57, was the deputy Attorney-General under Bill Clinton, and was embroiled in the controversy surrounding the pardon of the Democrat donor Marc Rich after giving a “neutral, leaning towards favourable” opinion of letting one of the FBI’s “most wanted” go free on the former President’s last day in office.

There are already faint stirrings of dissent among Mr Obama’s supporters over the way Hillary Clinton has apparently been offered the post of Secretary of State. The only confirmed senior appointment is that of another veteran from the former president’s Administration, Rahm Emmanuel, who has been made Chief of Staff.

Some Obama backers are suggesting that they did not fight so hard to stop the former First Lady winning the Democratic nomination only to see Mr Obama run a “Clinton Third term”. But after telling supporters that they shared ownership of his campaign – “it’s not about me, it’s about you” – the President-elect knows he must deal with the demands of those who feel they own a piece of him.

For all his efforts to disentangle himself from the thicket of federal lobbyists and political action committees, interest groups are already laying claim to having contributed to his victory and pushing their competing agendas on him. “Everybody wants something from us right now,” a senior Democratic source said.

Mr Obama is already under pressure from unions to help to broker a deal for a taxpayer bailout of Detroit’s troubled car-makers. Suggestions that Robert Gates may be asked to stay on as Defence Secretary have been preemptively denounced by antiwar activists.

Latinos are planning to march through Washington the day after Mr Obama’s inauguration on January 20 to urge immigration reforms.

Even the choice of schools for his daughters is a matter of public debate. Yesterday, as Sasha and Malia looked around some of Washington’s elite private educational institutions, there were calls for him to be the first president in three decades to send a child to a state school.

Mr Obama, faced with a swell of expectation and a crumbling economy, emphasises that change will be slow to achieve and tough choices will have to be taken on priorities.

Environmental activists gathered at Capitol Hill yesterday with a giant plane ticket urging him to UN climate change conference in Poland. But Mr Obama sent a video-message to a mini-summit on the issue in Los Ange-les that said “stopping climate change won’t be easy” and explained that he would not go to Poland because America “has only one President at a time”.

Latinos, two thirds of whom supported Mr Obama, want him to fulfil pledges to make immigration reform a top priority. But proposals to give 12 million undocumented workers legal rights are problematic with unemployment rising to a 14-year high.

The big unions, who contributed as much as $400 million to the election campaign, are largely opposed to a guest-worker programme. Instead, they think it is payback time for them on legislation making it easier for workers to organise.

Moveon.org, having channelled thousands of volunteers and tens of millions of dollars to his campaign, is still proclaiming its part in Mr Obama’s victory. Its website declares: “Together we did it!” Any evidence, however, of Mr Obama retreating from the strong antiIraq war position on which he launched his candidacy will swiftly turn such words of triumph turn into the language of betrayal.

GIVE AND TAKE

Latinos

What they did: Voted 67 per cent for Barack Obama to 31 per cent for John McCain, having backed George Bush by 56 per cent to 44 per cent for John Kerry in 2004

What they want: Immigration reform giving illegals a pathway to citizenship, an end to raids on workplaces and a halt to the construction of giant fences along the border with Mexico

Unions

What they did: Spent $400 million on the campaign and mobilised members for the get-out-the-vote scheme

What they want: Laws changed to make it easier to organise, universal healthcare, help for car-makers, end to free-trade deals, tight immigration controls

The Liberal Left

What they did: Moveon.org claims to have channelled 933,808 volunteers to the campaign and says that its members contributed $88 million

What they want: Troops out of Iraq, stop Robert Gates being reappointed to the Pentagon

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