An interview with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was published by the New York Times about a week and a half ago. I guess you have to admire the guy’s candor, but it’s a little disconcerting to read that our transportation secretary admittedly knows little about transportation and only got the job because (a) he’s a Republican, and (b) he’s good buddies with Rahm Emanuel.
It also makes me uncomfortable to read passages like this:
Mr. LaHood talks regularly on the phone with Mr. Emanuel and eats dinner with him once a week. And he unabashedly plays his Rahm card when it suits his infighting purposes.
A few weeks ago, for example, Mr. LaHood was in Arizona to announce a $36 million light-rail train project when someone from the White House Office of Management and Budget called and tried to halt the event, saying the project might not be eligible for stimulus money. Mr. LaHood called the budget director, Peter R. Orszag, to complain, but the matter only dragged on.
“That’s when I called Rahm,” Mr. LaHood said. “And that took care of it.”
Took care of… what? You mean, he magically made the project eligible for stimulus money? Huh. That’s handy. Here I thought there was some kind of objective criteria for that money. I should have known better.
When LaHood was a congressman, he was often derisively labeled a RINO (Republican In Name Only), meaning his “political actions, policies, positions on certain issues or voting records are considered to be at variance with core Republican beliefs.” Perhaps his acquisition of that moniker can be explained by this:
When asked if he could foresee disagreeing with the administration on anything, Mr. LaHood shrugged, and eventually shook his head. “I’ve never been passionate about any particular issue,” he said. [emphasis added] “I’m not going to sit around agonizing. The answer is, probably not.”
Well, that explains a lot. I always have found LaHood to be wishy-washy. Now I know why: he is wishy-washy. Maybe some people find indifference to be an admirable quality for a politician. I don’t. I find it blatantly opportunistic.