Lately we've been harping on this idea that the salient aspect of the Obama White House's grand vision for a more open government might not come from its official enforcement through traditional channels of government, but through its role as an inspiration and model for political engagement. We're talking soft power, rather than hard.

The White House, as we've reported, is betting on a Washington culture shift. And the AFL-CIO is suggesting this morning that that might not be the craziest idea in the world. As part of the President's Open Government Directive, each federal agency must, in short order, role out a web presence dedicated to openness at Agency.gov/open. The labor giant jumped on the idea, unveiling this morning AFLCIO.org/open.

And hosted on the site is as direct a copy of a White House initiative as to earn plagiarism charges and a trip to the dean's office were we in a college classroom setting. The White House has its "Open for Questions" program, where Administration officials take inquiries collected over the Internet. And now the AFL has its very own labor-flavored version. Questions on the jobs crisis for AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka are being collected and ranked using own of the White House's own favorite tools: Google Moderator. Trumka will answer a selection of the top-rated questions next Tuesday, and the program's creators are pointing to it as a way to connect up the institution's diverse constituency with its senior leadership, without simple having the loudest voice getting a hearing. Just the sort of thing you might hear from the White House.