american power in the world, who care about not just what we can project with our military, but the rest of our power too. how important was richard holbrooke to understanding that? i think he was extremely important, there are a lot of different factions in the foreign policy area. there are those that worry just about weapons systems and armies and realists. richard really focused on great humanitarian causes. and democracy and global justice. and i often found myself a critic of this field thinking that many people in the global justice community couldn t organize themselves out of a box. and i mean that politely. richard understood the importance of a playbook. understood the importance of how to organize to achieve results. i never met anyone more tenaciously committed to delivering on results. and negotiating and doing whatever had to be done to achieve positive outcomes. and sometimes people get lost in the methods and means, and thinking that has to be very
he brought together in the u.s. government about 17 different agencies and bureaus in a regular meeting. i remember talking to one of his senior you know, very big critics in the white house saying, i don t understand why holbrooke is just replicating the functions of government that already exist. and my response was, richard holbrooke is single handedly knocking down the bureaucratic barriers to moving forward. one of the things that s not known, i ve been trying i was actually negotiating with richard over the last couple of weeks of trying to attend a sura meeting. we have in the u.s. government a weekly sura meeting of heads of these different agencies that come together and meet with richard and talk about the area. it s going to be an interesting story to go into. not just delivering on the ground there, but getting government to operate differently, i think, was a key part of this. the afpak portfolio is the single most toxic portfolio one could be given. and richard took t
focused, if we act on our mutual interests, that progress is possible. wars can end. peace can be forged. so tonight we re all praying for richard s recovery. to the family, our thoughts are with you. and i know that everyone here joins me when i say that america is more secure and the world is a safer place because of the work of ambassador richard holbrooke. so michelle and i, the entire family, just know we are thinking and praying for you. for you and for richard every single day. and he is a tough son of a gun, so we are confident that as hard as this is, that he is going to be putting up a tremendous fight. ambassador richard holbrooke on friday fell ill while he was at the state department. what was initially reported as a suspected blood clot, turned out to be a torn aorta.
richard is relentless. he never stops. he never quits, because he s always believed that if we stay focused, if we act on our mutual interests, that progress is possible. wars can end. peace can be forged. so tonight we re all praying for richard s recovery. to the family, our thoughts are with you. and i know that everyone here joins me when i say that america is more secure and the world is a safer place because of the work of ambassador richard holbrooke. so michelle and i, the entire family, just know we are thinking and praying for you. for you and for richard every single day. and he is a tough son of a gun, so we are confident that as hard as this is, that he is going to be putting up a tremendous fight. ambassador richard holbrooke
what he accomplished. as my colleagues who have covered him and were there throughout, jamie reuben in the state department, warren christopher for whom he worked, no one could have driven that, through the force of personality, through backing down this man milosevic and others who were accused of being war criminals, no one else could have pulled that off. andrea mitchell, thank you for making time for us on short notice. nice to see you. you bet. joining us now is steve clemons, good friend of richard holbrooke. he s author of the political blog, the washington notes. i know you were close with richard, i m sorry for your loss tonight. thank you. i think many people who worked with him over the years are really feeling this enormous void right now. so steve, for americans who didn t know him, he s not a household name for people who don t know about foreign policy and don t follow foreign policy closely. but for americans who care about