If Hillary Clinton becomes the next US president, the foreign policy cognoscenti generally assume that Richard Holbrooke, the former ambassador to the United Nations and veteran of the Balkan and many diplomatic wars, will be her secretary of state.

That may disappoint longstanding Clintonistas, such as Madeleine Albright, once queen of Foggy Bottom, the State Department headquarters, and Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton’s national security adviser. Among others possibly miffed will be two of her current opponents for the Democratic nomination, senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, neither a foreign policy innocent.