First he told us he just wanted to be Barack Obama’s “best friend.” Then his name was bandied about for a cabinet post in the Obama administration like secretary of transportation or commerce. Then Ron Kirk wound up accepting a position in the administration as the U.S. Trade Representative. Now it looks like, no matter how well he’s performed as the senior official in charge of trade policy, Kirk’s going to say, “One and done.”
In an interview in his Washington, D.C., office today, Kirk told Tom Stephenson, a freelance writer for D CEO magazine, that he will not continue on in that post after the November election. Writes Tom:
Kirk said he has told the president, “It is not my desire or my intent to serve another term.” The former Dallas mayor called his years as trade czar “one of the highest honors in my life..and I feel incredibly humbled to be a part of this team.” Kirk, like Obama, is married to a powerhouse wife and actively participates in raising two daughters. A former Texas secretary of state, Kirk was narrowly defeated in a race for the U.S. Senate in 2002. He said, “I have served the city, the state, and the country. I think it is now time to serve the Kirk girls.”
So will it be back to practicing law, or serving on boards, or running for office here, or … something else?
