Finally, A Southerner! Ron Kirk Will Be Obama's Trade Rep
Looks like Obama's cabinet will get a southerner after all, albeit perhaps not the sort some people were looking for.
Obama has chosen Ron Kirk, who was the first black mayor of Dallas, as his trade representative, a senior Democrat tells us, confirming multiple reports today.
The choice of Kirk came after Obama's first choice, Rep. Xavier Becerra, pulled out. Becerra had cheered some on the left because of his trade record -- he confessed he regretted his vote for NAFTA, and subsequently voted against CAFTA, among other things.
As for Kirk, business leaders like his record of supporting free trade, and labor leaders seem wary. But with the stimulus package front and center, trade policy seems unlikely to be a top priority, and labor leaders have already been given a big gift in the form of new labor secretary nominee Hilda Solis.
Okay, so now Obama has enlisted a southerner, which may quiet the chatter about that. But still -- it's absolutely outrageous that Obama's cabinet doesn't contain a single white southerner.
it's absolutely outrageous that Obama's cabinet doesn't contain a single white southerner.
As a native upstate New Yorker, I'm pissed off that he didn't nominate anyone from Rochester. What about upstate New Yorkers?????
December 18, 2008 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary Clinton checks both of these boxes, Upstate NYer via way of Little Rock.
December 18, 2008 6:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
The lack of New Englanders in this Cabinet is appalling!
December 19, 2008 9:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't like this pick on the basis that i'm very very weary of free trade. But since it will take a while to get the straighten out, trade will be on the backburner for a bit. So that's good.
December 18, 2008 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
So I guess I should stark checking off my list to determine whether I need to be aggrieved yet or not. Does the cabinet contain a:
1) white person? (check, Clinton).
2) man? (check, Holder).
3) scientist? (check, Chu).
4) Catholic? (check, Richardson).
5) Missouri native? (?!?!)
No native Missourian! I am outraged. How can Obama pretend to be the president of the whole United States when his cabinet does not contain a single Missouri native? I am going to call my senators and urge them to oppose confirmation on every last cabinet pick until Obama shows us the love.
December 18, 2008 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nor any Utahns. Or female paratrooper vets. OR A PUPPY YET!!!!
Oh, the outrage!
December 18, 2008 6:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
For what it's worth, Ron Kirk is a legitimately nice guy. Was very personable whenever I ran into him in Dallas. He's a business man all the way, as far as I know, but if nothing else, D.C. will be a slightly more pleasant place with him in it.
December 18, 2008 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please!
Ron Kirk is not a Southerner. He is a Texan.
There is a difference.
December 18, 2008 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Absolutely! The only thing worse then an ignorant southerner is a Texan!
December 18, 2008 6:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Houston? Too close to New Orleans.
December 18, 2008 9:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
“If I owned Hell and Texas I would rent out Texas and live in Hell” - General Phil Sheridan
December 19, 2008 9:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Texans aren't Southerners. Southwest, oil, ranches, Hispanic, isn't insulted constantly by the media, make acceptable politicians in Washington, was pretty well bypassed in the Civil War, and slavery in Texas came late and was shortlived.
December 18, 2008 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Aw c'mon! Tom Delay. Dick Cheney. George Bush and the sequel, Dubya. Are these decent politicians?!?
John Bell Hood sent a bunch of Texans into the Civil War and they were among the most feared soldiers in the CSA, i.e. most aggressive violent thugs in the field. Frankly, I think Dubya got the Remember 9/11 idea from the Alamo. Just invoke 9/11 and you can start a war with anyone, even Iraq!
December 18, 2008 6:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Aw c'mon! Tom Delay. Dick Cheney. George Bush and the sequel, Dubya. Are these decent politicians?!?
Tom Delay is the only "Texan" in this list if you count Laredo as part of Mexico. Cheney is from Wyoming and the Bushs are from Conneticut carpet baggers.
Being from Dallas myself, Kirk was not everyones friend their but he got things done his way. And the term "decent politician" is an oximoron.
It is nice to see a familiar name but that is about it. We will see how this works out. Texans will do anything to win that's why it is the best football state ever. Go Boys!!!!!!
Also, Texas is the Lone Star State, "Remember the Alamo". I just remember they lost.
December 18, 2008 10:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tom DeLay is now a Virginian, thanks to the efforts of Texan Ronnie Earle.
How 'bout them Cowboys?
Yep, Texans lost at the Alamo, but the ones who were hollering "Remember the Alamao!" at San Jacinto a few weeks later whupped Santa Anna's boys in less than 20 minutes.
December 18, 2008 10:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Parts of Texas are southern, if by that you mean a society formerly based on large cotton plantations and black chattel slavery.
December 18, 2008 6:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
So why is it called SOUTHwest?
December 18, 2008 11:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
For what's it's worth, as a former Dallasite, Ron Kirk is a jerk.
He represents the absolute worst part of the "business-friendly/I'm gonna get mine" wing of black politics. He's currently in his natural habitat - corporate lobbying. The contacts he'll make with this job will mean he'll be a higher paid corporate lobbyist in, what, 2-3 years?
Change, my friends.
December 18, 2008 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lisa Jackson is a southern, but she's black so i guess she doesn't count............
December 18, 2008 5:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm afraid oskieoskie (aka the TPM Reader who roots for that scumbag team in Dallas) is right. He's a Texan. Big difference.
But I will say Greg, your sarcasm gives me joy. Please show more of this side of yourself in your future works.
Oh, and oskieoskie, Hail To The Redskins!
December 18, 2008 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rest in peace, Sam Baugh, who died this week.
A great Texan.
December 18, 2008 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Some liberals are so against free trade that it is distrubing. It's a FACT that FT brings in money to the country, if they are shaped so workers aren't losing their jobs and entire towns aren't being crushed because companies shipping their jobs overseas then FT should be implemented.
December 18, 2008 7:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think a lot of liberals (including myself) are againist free trade is because most of the free trade agreements we've seen are unfettered with no labor agreements whatsoever. Fair trade, now that's another matter.
December 18, 2008 8:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Give Texas back to Mexico!
December 18, 2008 7:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
And Colorado, California, "New" Mexico, Arizona, hell everything west of the Louisiana Purchase.
That'll do. I think Obama would still win.
December 19, 2008 12:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey wait a minute. I am outraged. I am livid. Where are the canadians in this cabinet? Is canada not good enough?
December 18, 2008 8:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Almost had Granholm...
December 18, 2008 8:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ron Kirk was Texas Secretary of State under Governor Ann Richards and the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate a few years ago.
December 18, 2008 10:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
A Black Southerner? I LOVE IT!!! People were complaining he did not have a native of the South in any of his Cabinets. Now he does. What's the problem? Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I know! He ain't white! Well, hells bells! LOL
December 18, 2008 11:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Robert Gibbs is the White Southerner on the Obama team. He is from Alabama.
December 19, 2008 1:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
How about Alaska? Does Obama care about US up in Alaska???? Outrage
December 19, 2008 7:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Where is the mixed-race North Carolinian Cabinet pick?
December 19, 2008 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
I lived in Dallas when Ron Kirk was mayor. He was much more pro-business than a true Democrat. That's what you have to do in Texas to make friends and influence people.....and he did. I was very disappointed in his tenure. I hope he doesn't leave the American people on the table as he did the Dallas people when he was mayor.
December 19, 2008 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink