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.

There's more...

As one of many, many friends and fans of Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones and, like her, a loyal, loyal Democract my grief at her passing knows no bounds.  The loss to our Democratic party and to the world at large is immeasurable, and we are struggling to find some meaning or meager lesson from the untimely death of such a valuable and caring human being. I am exhausted from my tears and I know there will be more to come.

At the same time, the tearing of the loyal, protective fabric of our party has caused many of us great pain. There's no better occasion than Stephanie's passing to bind our wounds and unite us.

My party means everything to me, as it also did to the Congresswoman. Please, lets heal those wounds and she would no doubt want us to use this occasion to unite.

Please help end the tears of so many of her friends and unite this grand and glorious party.

The Living Years

Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door

I know that Im a prisoner
To all my father held so dear
I know that Im a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
Im afraid thats all we've got

You say you just dont see it
He says its perfect sense
You just can't get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defence

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
Its too late when we die
To admit we dont see eye to eye

So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
Its the bitterness that lasts

So dont yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you dont give up, and dont give in
You may just be o.k.

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
Its too late when we die
To admit we dont see eye to eye

I wasnt there that morning
When my father passed away
I didnt get to tell him
All the things I had to say

I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
Im sure I heard his echo
In my babys new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
Its too late when we die
To admit we dont see eye to eye

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqDOWeBBz NQ&feature=related

Please let us resolve our differences in our living years.  And let me use this opportunity to send my love and thanks to all our great Dem leaders now, in our living years. Don't let the hour pass when we can no longer say how much we love each other.

From Ohio's 13th District - Sherrod, Connie, Dennis, Ted, Lee, Jennifer, Bill, Hillary, Obama, Al, Betty, Barbara, Jimmy, Peter, Dale, Lance, Ray, Eric, Tom, Tim (Hagan and Ryan), Zach, Marcy, Rep Stokes, Jane, Mike, Roosevelt, Vel, Cindy  and all my other Dem friends - I love you, I love you, I love all of you and I will walk through fire for you. I don't want another day to pass without you knowing that.

Thanks for all you do, even if we don't always see eye to eye.

And Stephanie, I have a million things I wish I could say to you, but you know I love you and give you my thanks. I will miss you forever girlfriend, my heart is broken. We always saw eye to eye.

Don't give up, don't give in. Unite and love each other. We will be ok.

Say it loud.

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All right, I don't hate Hillary.  But I did hate her campaign, and I hated it in a big, big way.  I could list all of the horrible tactics pursued in the Penn/Rovian playbook, but I don't want to invite Hillary supporters to unload on Obama's shortcomings, so I'll stay mum.  "They're horrible people," I think, was my comment in the midst of the campaign's end.  Let that speak to my deep animosity toward the Clintons for their campaign.

So why in the world would I be excited, even overjoyed, to see Hillary get the VP nod?

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In a press conference a few minutes ago, NY Congressman Charles Rangel, one of Hillary's key supporters, brought the entire New York delegation on board for Obama:

The Harlem Democrat said the endorsement is being made ahead of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's Saturday announcement that she is withdrawing from the race and endorsing Obama "in order to accommodate those members of Congress who will be unable to return to Washington on Saturday.''

At a press conference held at outside the offices of the Democratic National Committee, Rangel acknowledged "me and some 200 others'' have called Clinton since Tuesday, urging no further delay in withdrawing from the race and endorsing Obama.

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Survey USA has performed a series of surveys of how the various combinations of president-VP candidates performs relative to each other in a series of states. In all of them, the best performing pair for the Democrats is Obama/Edwards, beating McCain+anyone by huge margins. Admittedly Edwards has name recognition that the others lack, so things would certainly change over time, but the numbers are stunning. And this hard data certainly contradicts the "conventional wisdom" that John Edwards didn't help last time.

It was also a bit amazing how much the VP slot mattered in the results. In many of these states, Edwards gave a 15 point advantage to Obama, flipping losses into victories.

I'll admit that I'm a big Edwards fan, but these numbers are stunning!

There's more...