Making the Dept. of Labor toothless would be an understatement re: Bush Labor Sec'y Elaine Chao, the Harvard MBA, banking executive, and Heritage Foundation member. I wrote about Chao's (pathetic) legacy in an issue of the IWW's paper, actually.
Obama's appointment of Ms. Solis is a welcome change indeed.
It's noteworthy that the first female Sec'y of Labor was under FDR - Frances Perkins. Indeed, she was the first female appointment to a US executive branch agency, period. Ms. Perkins is even credited in an important way with the creation of Social Security. FDR wrote to Ms. Perkins, when it came to crafting, in 1934, Soc. Security: "You care about this thing. You believe in it ... and you will drive it through," FDR wrote to her. FDR made Labor Sec'y Ms. Perkins a chair of his Committee on Economic Security, which recommended Congress pass the Social Security Act. Which it did.
So maybe Obama has indeed been reading up on some FDR, that "traitor to his class"...?
Still, this is just one appt. among a cavalcade of a mixed-bag of others, who otherwise do mostly lean center-right.
-B.
Doug Henwood wrote:
"[Chao is] Only member of his cabinet to serve all 8 years. And I'll bet not 1 in 500 know her name!"