Pete Buttigieg is super excited to run the entire national Department of Transportation because he’s ridden the Amtrak a few times.
Not even kidding.
That was the justification the South Bend Indiana – population 100k – gave Wednesday night for why he’s happy to have been selected as President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to head up the federal department that oversees….well, a whole bunch of stuff he’s never actually had to oversee before.
Well, that and the fact that he proposed to his partner, Chasten, in an airport terminal. Which is basically like having owned and operated an airport.
"Don't let anyone tell you O'Hare isn't romantic," the mayor joked.
Pete Buttigieg: "Travel in my mind is synonymous with growth, with adventure — even love. So much so that I proposed to my husband Chasten in an airport terminal. Don't let anybody tell you that O'Hare isn't romantic." https://t.co/yE4AcCDMuT pic.twitter.com/lrX3S9dhai
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 16, 2020
Buttigieg cited his "personal love of transportation” and the fact that "more than once," he took the train back and forth to college with a buddy as why he’s excited about his new job, sounding very much like a man trying to appear grateful for the mismatched bone he’s being thrown, in actuality because he checks off the “LGBTQ” box on Biden's list of cabinet picks. (Biden had previously introduced Pete's husband, Chasten, as "Kristen" before his speech, making one wonder if he even knows who he's nominating at all.)
Which is pretty much what Buttigieg admitted just after basically acknowledging he has no qualifications to spearhead our multi-trillion-dollar transportation infrastructure, saying he hopes his nomination inspires other young people who might be struggling with their own identity.
"Two decades later, I can't help but think of a 17-year-old somewhere who might be watching us right now, somebody who wonders whether and where they belong in the world or even in their own family," Buttigieg said. "And I'm thinking about the message that today's announcement is sending to them."
When it comes to his “plan,” Buttigieg says he wants to reform our nation’s transportation system to better combat racism and protect the environment while insulating communities against natural disasters caused by climate change.
On that note, I used to build some cool stuff with Lincoln Logs as a kid. Maybe they’ll give me HUD.