And I think the delay, if you can call it that, in her appointment had more to do with the labor movement’s many moving parts (and Big Labor Bosses) being unable to agree on an appointee acceptable to all than it did with Obama’s reluctance to include the position in his inner circle.

Now that makes sense to me.

And I think the delay, if you can call it that, in her appointment had more to do with the labor movement’s many moving parts (and Big Labor Bosses) being unable to agree on an appointee acceptable to all than it did with Obama’s reluctance to include the position in his inner circle.

I don’t really get your logic on her as ‘afterthought’ appointment, though. Just because she was announced later then many of the other posts? Really? While I guess you could be right, there are simply too many other variables that must have existed before settling on a choice in this political climate.

Then again, I guess you’re figuring the wicked Obama’s just planning to assfuck Labor anyway, and the Solis choice is just a particularly sadistic red herring.

And yes, I did reach for smelling salts.
But if I’m hearing that conversation on a network news vehicle, it’s heartening. And it’s a sign of the unbelievable frustration that I think is really reaching a fever pitch this holiday season as people watch the big banks tell us all that they don’t even have to explain what happened to $350 billion in TARP money.

I think Solis’s arrival in DC is almost bizarre — probably the most important time in American life since 1936. I hope she has a sturdy constitution, because I think she has a hell of a workload ahead of her.

I posted a comment on that editorial pointing out that card check and secret ballots are both part of forming union locals. I don’t know where the Times finds these guys, but I wish they’d stop turning over rocks.

The technical A is that the Secy of Labor administers labor laws. As you know, W put in a secy who make sure they weren’t enforced. Here’s the wiki on the Labor Dept.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U…..y_of_Labor
It’s not very revealing but good for a start.

So we can at least expect Solis to enforce pro-labor laws.

Labor secy can also be part of the economic policy making group, but as you point out, even the best of them in recent admins does not seem to have had much input during Clinton. (Even though his book, Work of Nations, is what made me understand some of the underpinnings of the way Clinton looked at the economy, and how that tied into other economic threads.)

And Solis starts out as an afterthought appt, the last of the cabinet posts to be named, and clearly Obama does not think of her as part of his “economics team.”

Just another example of how little power labor has and how tough the job will be. Since I never heard of her until she was appointed, I have no idea if she is up to the task.