In December 2008,
I criticized Obama's choice of Ray LaHood, a Republican Congressman from Illinois, as his choice for Secretary of Transportation. Now I find myself biting my tongue. LaHood has taken the Transportation Department, one that is typically viewed as relatively unimportant, and made some of the biggest, boldest policy statements a transportation secretary has made in recent memory. His department has played an instrumental role in allocating stimulus funds for transit projects (
including $8.8 billion for new high-speed rail systems throughout the country), establishing new vehicle emission standards, and now,
defining new and long-needed priorities for urban planning and transportation systems.
