White House helping Town Hall "pregnant woman"

The White House is trying to lend a hand to an audience member from the CBS News Town Hall with President Obama broadcast on "The Early Show" Thursday.

Karin Gallo, a 43-year-old federal employee - a spokesperson for the National Zoo and public affairs specialist - is slated to lose her job in four weeks due to budget cuts. She's also seven months into a high-risk pregnancy with her first child, and in the midst of building a house.

With no job offers in sight, she asked the President, "What would you do if you were me?"

Special section: CBS News Town Hall on the Economy, with President Obama"

Mr. Obama didn't answer the (seemingly rhetorical) question directly, but he used Gallo's story as a means to defend government workers at all levels who are being laid off.

He also said, "We can have a conversation, maybe, afterwards."

On "The Early Show" Friday, Gallo said that, while she didn't get to speak directly with the president, she did have a conversation with a White House staffer on Thursday who seemed eager to help, and told her several other staffers were trying to come to her aid, as well. Gallo added that she also got a phone call late Thursday from the Presidential Personnel Office, which wants her to come in Monday for an informational interview.

Asked by co-anchor Erica Hill what she'd say to other job seekers who weren't fortunate enough to come to the president's personal attention, Gallo said she "never once thought there was no light at the end of the tunnel. I definitely thought there was going to be something on the other end. ... I always just kept the faith that something was going to happen, that there was going to be an opportunity. I completely lucked out that the opportunity was so huge for me. But I guess I speak for a lot of Americans who are out of work and frustrated. And I just have to say - keep the faith and know that there is something at the end of the tunnel."