People are saying that Ray LaHood, a downstate Illinois Republican representative, may get the nod for DOT. So far, the things mentioned as being in his favor are—friendship with the president-elect and his chief of staff, some pro-Amtrak votes, experience managing big projects as a member of the Appropriations committee (?), and his Republican-ness, for some reason.
This makes no sense at all to me. As I see it, then, there are three possibilities:
- Obama doesn’t intend the DOT secretary to do the heavy lifting on his transportation policies,
- Obama doesn’t really care about transportation, and
- It isn’t true.
Based on the limited knowledge I have to hand, I’m going to go with No. 3. I suspect this is not going to be his pick.
Capturing the massive social benefits of fuel efficiency requires regulation
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Bob Wallace Posted 3:39 am
17 Dec 2008
Has had a long, frank talk with him about how we need to get our transportation system transformed to something more sustainable/less carbon producing and found that LaHood agrees with him.
Has decided that he needs a couple of Republicans in his cabinet as part of healing the division between the two parties and feels that LaHood is a Republican guy who will devote himself to getting the job done quickly and efficiently.
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dddlev Posted 7:33 am
17 Dec 2008
At the same time, there are clear signals that he is not treating this as anything like a top-rung issue. I've copied Obama's agenda priorities at the bottom of this post--transportation is not in the top 20--it's a "sub-issue".
Given that (a) he wants to spend a lot on infrastructure repair and (b) large systems such as rail that are built by companies dominated by Republican-tilting engineers, it wouldn't hurt him too much to have an (R) in that position.
Further, one of the biggest national strategic issues in transportation is the gas tax. If Obama is shrewd, he'll understand that we need a major increase in the gas tax (on the order of 50 cents), and the elimination of the gas tax as a "user fee" (i.e., we need to be able to spend that money on other things than transportation. Who better to lead that charge than a Republican with experience on the Appropriations committee?
-David Levinger
From Obama's Change.gov site
"THE AGENDA"
CIVIL RIGHTS
DEFENSE
DISABILITIES
ECONOMY
EDUCATION
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
ETHICS
FAMILY
FISCAL
FOREIGN POLICY
HEALTH CARE
HOMELAND SECURITY
IMMIGRATION
IRAQ
POVERTY
RURAL
SENIORS & SOCIAL SECURITY
SERVICE
TAXES
TECHNOLOGY
URBAN POLICY
VETERANS
WOMEN
ADDITIONAL ISSUES
-Faith
-Arts
-Child Advocacy
-Katrina
-Science
-Sportsmen
-Transportation
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