Broder: LaHood appointment is highly significant and proposes a dilemma for the GOP

[DCBob]

The GOP Goes South
By David S. Broder
Sunday, December 28, 2008; Page B07

As a rule, a new president's choice of a secretary of transportation makes few headlines, even when the appointee is a member of the opposition. In 2001, George W. Bush decided to name as transportation secretary Norman Mineta, a former representative from California, to be the token Democrat in his Cabinet, and no one noticed. And no one except for Mark Shields, who lavishly praised the appointment, paid much attention last week when Barack Obama made Ray LaHood, the retiring representative from Peoria, Ill., the second Republican in his Cabinet.

This one, however, is loaded with meaning because LaHood is no ordinary member of Congress. He has been, as Shields pointed out, one of the most widely respected members of the House; a leader in the uphill struggle for comity between the parties; and a throwback to the days of his old boss Bob Michel, the minority leader who resisted the scorched-earth tactics of Newt Gingrich. Such was LaHood's reputation for fairness that he was the natural choice to preside over the House during the explosive impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton.

The significance of his accepting Obama's offer goes beyond the signal it sends of the new president's seriousness about outreach to moderate Republicans. As transportation secretary, LaHood will be at the center of the road and bridge construction projects Obama plans to make the highlight of his almost trillion-dollar stimulus program.

All the signs are that the stimulus spending will be opposed by congressional Republicans, whose shrunken ranks are increasingly dominated by right-wing Southerners who care not what their stance does to harm the party's national image. The spectacle of LaHood facing off in congressional testimony against those naysayers will dramatize a split that is crippling the GOP.

more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601129.html
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I think Broder got it right on this one. Another very smart pick by Obama. The GOP is in free fall.

[Kdillard]

1. Hits nail on head.

[Clio the Leo]

2. Smart man, that Obama dude. NT

[Captain Hilts]

3. La Hood is a fan of highways and cars, not mass/public transit.

I don't think that's so smart.

Broder is such a tool.

And I'm STILL waiting for his column noting that Pres Bush has "trashed" this country's economy and international transportation.

He and Sally Quinn are total tools.

[Zynx]

4. Everything I saw was that he was a big fan of Amtrak and also warm to other public

transportation ideas.

[Captain Hilts]

5. He's a fan of tax cuts to fund transit. nt

[rosesaylavee]

7. I am hoping that Obama will get Lahood to see the light

about mass transit... maybe send to just about any other country to see how well that would work.

[DCBob]

8. LaHood voted for Saving Energy Through Public Transportation Act & Passenger Rail Investment Act

against his party's line.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/17/lahood-continues-traditio_n_151867.html?page=2

[Renew Deal]

9. Obama and Biden are both HUGE fans of mass/public transit.

And they are in charge.

[liskddksil]

10. He mentioned "light rail" and Amtrak in his speech accepting the position

So I trust he would support those endeavors, especially since Biden is such a huge proponent.

[chieftain]

6. Even a blind pig finds an acorn occasionally. The Dean of the

Washington Punditocracy has stumbled upon the truth.

[pberq]

11. Let's hope this works out. nt

[ShadowLiberal]

12. Obama's a more cunning politician then most give him credit for

This move just shows how clever he was, the path to building up an even larger democratic majority in congress, and making elections much easier for us to win nationally, is to split the moderate republicans from the ultra conservative southern republicans. If we get the moderate republicans to leave the party then the republican party is left as a truly regional party with only southern conservatives left, incapable of winning national elections.

[firedupdem]

13. Obama knows what he's doing......great pick and smart move!

He's shutting them down!

[grantcart]

14. The last two paragraphs show how Obama is creating the ultimate dilemma for the GOP

The Southern domination of the congressional Republican Party has become more complete with each and every election. This year, Republicans suffered a net loss of two Senate and three House seats in the South, but they lost five Senate seats and 18 House seats in other sections. No Republican House members are left in New England, and they have become ever scarcer in New York and Pennsylvania and across the Midwest.

LaHood, who witnessed but did not welcome the Gingrich "revolution" in the House, has watched with growing alarm the decimation of the GOP in Illinois and surrounding states. As point man for Obama's stimulus spending, he now poses the dilemma for his own party in the sharpest possible terms: Will congressional Republicans again sacrifice their political interest to satisfy their Southern-baked ideological imperatives?