whyroots

Ladies and gentlemen, if media speculation is correct, there's a very good chance labor will finally have a place at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a labor organizer hasn't ever served in the White House, unless you count, um, Reagan, who was president of the Screen Actors Guild—but I hardly count Ron as a labor operative.

So who am I speaking of? Patrick Gaspard. Media reports indicate that the political director (left) of Obama's presidential campaign, is set to be tapped for the same position in the White House.

Before joining the Obama campaign, Gaspard was the lead political operative for the 1199 branch of the SEIU, an influential branch of the union that represents health care workers in New York.

Even as other expected appointments don't exactly smell like "change we can believe in"—keeping Gates in Defense, for one—the Gaspard pick, if true, is great news.

But how's this for a (sadly) novel idea: What about a labor person for the Secretary of Labor job? Yeah, chew on that.

-- Daniela Perdomo