The Torturous Year Ahead for Secretary Pete Buttigieg — and Us
60 Minutes over the weekend. At one point during his interview with Anderson Cooper, I joked to no one in particular, “Looks like the transportation secretary is test driving a possible presidential run!”During the high-profile interview on the heavily watched news show, the secretary was coy when Cooper asked him if he’d run against President Joe Biden.“Where my head is at is how do we spend the better part of a trillion dollars in infrastructure funding accountable, on time, on task, and on budget.
It literally doesn’t leave any room for me to be thinking about politics,” Buttigieg, quite obviously said evasively.Even Cooper wasn’t buying Buttigieg’s less than straightforward retort. “I kind of thought that was the answer,” Cooper joked.Buttigieg might be in the best position of any government official in Washington, sans Biden.
He is the point person on the approximately $850 billion infrastructure bill signed into law by President Biden late last year.
As a result, he gets to travel around the country handing out big goody bags of money to fund jobs in communities that will go toward fixing aging infrastructure that includes roads, bridges, and tunnels.Cooper suggested that because of this giveaway Buttigieg might be a dead giveaway for a potential presidential run since he is amassing a plethora of local contacts while he spreads money and goodwill.When Cooper inquired about this advantageous scenario, the transportation secretary stalled with an answer.“Like every job, there’s a flashy side and then there’s a workhorse side,” the cagey Buttigieg explained. “Like any other job, you will succeed if you keep your head down and do what needs to be done, but I’ll tell you, I love this job.
