The average person can’t describe the daily responsibilities of the secretary of transportation or even name the figure who holds that position — until our transportation infrastructure fails, that is. As far as cushy political appointments go, it’s on the thankless end of the spectrum.
At least that was the case before Pete Buttigieg ascended to the role in 2021. Now the secretary of transportation is both a political celebrity and someone immune to meaningful criticism over our country’s transportation failures — and there have been many.
Though the left rarely misses an opportunity to announce that “the adults are back in charge,” Buttigieg’s failures suggest otherwise. His highlight reel at the Department of Transportation includes a supply-chain crisis punctuated with a personal leave, flight system disruptions that stranded millions of travelers and temporarily grounded all U.S. flights, rail strikes, and a series of horrific train derailments. On Main Street, people get fired for far less.
Plucked from obscurity as mayor of a struggling Rust Belt city, Buttigieg found himself among the leading Democratic presidential candidates in 2020; he even won the Iowa caucuses. Biden, who considers the former mayor a future party star, awarded him a cabinet post. It defies logic.
Where logic fails, leftist dogma can fill in some of the gaps. Buttigieg will continue checking the “first gay ___” box as far as he climbs the ladder. In the current manifestation of the Democratic Party, which selects and rejects candidates over such identity trifles, it is a
