Tuesday, October 14, 2008

I Hate It When He Does This

I'm annoyed. When Obama talks about transportation he talks about cars and roads. There have been a few times like in Portland where he talked about bikes or in PA when he talked to the GE train makers. Those are site specific and everywhere else it's usually about cars. I don't want to hear about cars. And I certainly don't want us giving money to companies who can't seem to get it right in the first place.

"We'll create 5 million new, high-wage jobs by investing in the renewable sources of energy that will eliminate the oil we currently import from the Middle East in 10 years, and we'll create 2 million jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, schools, and bridges," he said.

He revisited the subject again later in the speech: "It is time to protect the jobs we have and to create the jobs of tomorrow by unlocking the drive, and ingenuity, and innovation of the American people. And we should fast-track the loan guarantees we passed for our auto industry and provide more as needed so that they can build the energy-efficient cars America needs to end our dependence on foreign oil."

Why is it that Toyota and Honda consistently get the market here in America right but Detroit can't seem to figure it out? Obama talks alot about changing the way things are done in Washington. I think he needs to go a step further and talk about changeing the way we do things in State DOTs, MPOs, and Detroit.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

The general population hasn't quite connected the dots on that one yet. That's why you don't hear about it except in transit rich places. It just so happens that transit rich places are not currently political "battlegrounds".

We should be thankful that the general population is starting to see calm under pressure as "presidential" rather than voting for someone "they'd rather have a beer with". Baby steps, I guess.

Morgan Wick said...

Why isn't Obama trying to help them connect the dots then? I hate that politicians just take the path of least resistance and chase the center rather than actually try and convince voters that a slightly controversial position might actually not be that bad. It's one reason so many people are so cynical about politics.

Anonymous said...

Obama has to win first. THEN he can convince the voters.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, especially in a "swing state" like Ohio. (That used to be New York, Illinois, or California.)

Alon Levy said...

Morgan, Biden is talking about trains. He's just woefully undercovered by reporters, because he's not Palin.

For what it's worth, read Krugman on trains. If he and the new administration can get over how he supported Clinton in the primary and attacked Obama very caustically, he'll probably be the new Secretary of the Treasury.

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