In other Obama cabinet news, after Rep. Xavier Becerra turned down being US Trade Rep, Obama has reportedly offered the position to former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk.

A Democratic official says President-elect Barack Obama intends to name Ron Kirk as the United States' trade representative.

Kirk is a former mayor of Dallas, and was the first black to hold that post.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because Obama has not made the selection public. He's expected to make the announcement in coming days.

What does Kirk's nomination to Trade Rep "mean?"David Sirota does some digging and finds it's actually a tough call as to whether this is good for progressive trade policy or not.

Thus, on balance, it's difficult to know what the Kirk nomination represents. I'd say it's clearly a less overtly progressive nomination than an explicit fair trader like Becerra, and, considering Kirk's business ties, I wouldn't be surprised if Kirk ended up being the standard-issue corporate sycophant who has occupied the U.S. Trade Representative office for the last few decades.

Then again, there is reason to believe he could be a progressive and that implementing Obama's fair-trade campaign promises wouldn't be totally antithetical to his past positions/statements in support of "a more responsible trade policy." Granted, that's a nebulous phrase - corporate lobbyists, for instance, think a "more responsible trade policy" is one with more corporate protections and fewer protections for humans. Meanwhile, progressives think a "more responsible trade policy" is one that better prioritizes workers, the environment and the macro economy. I'm inclined to believe Kirk meant the latter, not the former, as he was advocating the candidacy of a guy campaigning as a progressive.

So, in short, it's difficult to state anything totally conclusive about the Kirk nomination. As the Texas AFL-CIO says today, "The jury's out."

At the very least, I suspect free traders are a lot less fearful of Kirk than they were of Becerra but he's also more of a question mark.