It's not 100% accurate to say that "Bush" let the Comair pilots strike...technically the NMB let the Comair pilots strike, and I'm pretty sure Bush's appointees weren't on the NMB within the first 2 months...pretty sure that was Clinton's carryover NMB that released the Comair pilots...and Read van de Water had strong connections with Northwest (former legal counsel for them) from the day she arrived at the NMB, so there was really no way in hell she was ever going to let 9E be released, killing all that lift for NWA would be a slap in the face to her former pals in NWA mgmt...

There is a seat waiting to be filled on the NMB now...and I'm pretty sure the other 2 mediators terms expire in Dec. of this year also, so '09 is going to see a big change in labor relations regardless of what happens with the economy...