Walking to Wednesday’s (mostly uneventful) White House press briefing, I spotted Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood heading from the East Wing toward the Old Executive Office Building. He was by himself. I asked if he had a moment to talk, and he graciously said yes.
I started with substance: light rail. There’s money in the stimulus bill for light rail projects, and Prsident Barack Obama has referred to this when pitching the stimulus package. But the White House has not placed much emphasis on this initiative. In general, Obama has (so far) not fully designed or promoted his economic recovery initiative as a bold move to revitalize (and even re-imagine) America’s infrastructure. So I asked LaHood how his department would be spending the light-rail money in the stimulus legislation: would it disseminate it widely or use it to move ahead with a few high-profile projects that could draw plenty of public attention? “We will spread it around,” he said, noting the stimulus contains about $1 billion for light rail. His department, he said, has a list of about a dozen projects that it will soon send to the White House. Presumably, the White House will weigh in on which project gets what money.
“There’s always a fixation on building roads at the Transportation Department,” I said, asking “Does the current crisis give you a chance to change that somewhat?”
“Now is the time to change direction,” said LaHood, who was a Republican member of the House of Representatives before joining Obama’s Cabinet. But, then, he didn’t say how fast or–more important–how much.
Next, I turned to politics. “Are you disappointed by your fellow Republicans on the Hill who have been trying to block the president’s programs?” He paused for a moment. It looked as if he would say something. He opened his mouth. Then he shut it. A look of reconsideration crossed his face. “I shouldn’t comment,” he said. “I’m part of the Obama team now. I’m out of the political game.”
“But aren’t you just a little bit disappointed?” I asked, as coaxingly as possible. “Just a little?” Another pause. “I shouldn’t say,” he replied. He said goodbye and walked off. And I thought: should I have asked him about Rush Limbaugh?
