"Ladies and Gentlemen:  Gary Locke as your new Commerce Secretary..."

(Crickets chirping.  Someone clears their throat.  Eventual polite golf clapping.)

This is the response of many in Washington state to the news that former Governor Gary Locke may well be on his way to Washington DC as our new Commerce Secretary in the Obama Administration.  Why the bland reaction?

Frankly, maybe it's because it's neither earth-shattering nor stunning news.  I am not stunned.  I mean, when I have a bad breakup with one of my coke-head supermodel boyfriends, I usually end up dating an accountant until I get bored again and need the high-stakes drama of a co-dependent, self-loathing supermodel again.  When J Lo broke up with the tumultuous P. Diddy, she didn't date another P. Diddy next, she dated safe Ben Affleck.  Same logic applies here.  Obama was burned twice before, now he wants someone safe.  The pendulum hath swung to the other side.

Ok am I saying Bill Richardson or Judd Gregg are coke-head supermodels or that Gary Locke is Ben Affleck?  No, but I am on deadline, so go with the analogy.

The Commerce Secretary is not such a huge position in the O-admin (can you name one Commerce Secretary of note?)—so you don't need someone sexy there. You just need someone to carry out the census and, um, actually count people.  I guess you have some jurisdiction over oceans, trademarks and shit.  Yawn job description yields yawn applicants.

Gary Locke is a solid, safe choice. He is a good bureaucrat (and that's not a slam - having someone good at government is a good thing post-Katrina) and he makes safe political decisions (Hi, Priorities of Government!).

Overall, I like him. He vetoed the Defense of Marriage Act during the Republican-controlled Legislature in the late 1990s, so he's good peeps.  He just doesn't generate the kind of buzz and excitement you'd get with, say, a Jay Inslee appointment there, non sequitor as that would be. Maybe it's that Gary's an ex-Governor who's off the political radar? That's ok.

Now choosing Mona to head up Commerce would give that place some va-va-voom.