Barack Obama Sends Kendrick Meek to the U.N.

The White House confirmed Tuesday morning that President Barack Obama will officially nominate former U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek to serve as one of three representatives to the United Nations General Assembly, which convenes its next session Sept. 13.

"We can confirm that the former congressman from Florida is one of the president's nominees," White House communications aide Inez Labella told Sunshine State News.

If confirmed by the Senate, Meek and the other nominees will serve with the U.S. Permanent Mission to the United Nations, under American Ambassador Susan E. Rice. Meek's job as part of the U.S. delegation will be to assist the president and secretary of state in conducting American policy at the United Nations.

Meek ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010 against Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Charlie Crist. Since the election, he has served as president of a disaster-relief consulting firm, KBM Solutions LLC.

Labella said the others named were Mary DeRosa, an attorney specializing in international issues who served on a Biden-Obama Transition Team; and Frank Loy, undersecretary for global affairs at the State Department during the last two years of the Clinton administration.