Is Pete Buttigieg the best – or worst – transportation secretary in history? |
On Thursday last week, US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the town of East Palestine, Ohio, for some much-needed damage control. The catastrophic 3 February derailment of a nearby train carrying toxic chemicals sent a terrifying black cloud into the air as officials burned off the leaked materials. A swiftly escalating political crisis followed, as the Biden administration's grip on the narrative and credibility with the public also went off the rails. Mr Buttigieg often divides opinion but transit experts say that the former South Bend mayor, who has little experience of managing mass transit and has never held an elected office higher leading a small city in Indiana, has done a solid job at the Department of Transport, overseeing an important agency with roughly 55,000 employees and a budget of nearly $90bn. In the process, he's elevated what's normally considered a fairly staid cabinet position to put himself at the centre of both policymaking and surrogacy for the administration at large. Though, in doing so, Mr Buttigieg has also opened himself to unrelenting partisan attacks as the country experiences transit crisis after transit crisis, from chaos at airports to lengthy backlogs in the international supply chain. |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep a civil tongue.