Just a quick diary to post some very good news just announced by the Obama transition team this morning:
Come Inauguration day, newly minted Vice President Joe Biden will add one more task to his job title: working families czar, so-to-speak.
On Sunday, President-elect Barack Obama's transition team announced the new "White House Task Force on Working Families" — a major initiative targeted at "raising the living standards of middle-class, working families in America." The initiative will be chaired by Biden.
Other members of the task force will include: Secretaries of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Commerce, as well as the Directors of the National Economic Council, the Office of Management and Budget, the Domestic Policy Counsel, and the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors.
This is excellent news on the heels of the disappointing and misguided Warren announcement. While it doesn't undo the damage of that choice, it does seem to reflect a commitment to economic progressivism.
Obama has set up several key goals for the task force, including: Expanding education and training; improving work and family balance; a focus on labor standards, including workplace safety; protecting working-family incomes and retirement security.
So what power will the new task force have in shaping policy? According to the transition team, Biden and other members "will expedite administrative reforms, propose Executive orders, and develop legislative and public policy proposals that can be of special importance to working families."
Biden was such an effective speaker about these issues on the stump, and displays an intuitive understanding of economic suffering and real empathy for ordinary people. I know this is a short diary, but I'm on my way out the door, but was so happy to see this good news I had to share it with folks who will appreciate it.