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Can U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg do anything useful or helpful?
Once again there’s a big problem in the United States transportation system (Friday’s computer outages). And, once again, apparently all Pete Buttigieg can think to do is write a strongly worded, finger-wagging threat. I have yet to see him in any emergency (when he’s actually present and not on parental leave) make suggestions, offer assistance, talk about the valuable assistance the DOT experts are providing to transportation providers, or anything else that might be helpful. Isn’t the Department of Transportation supposed to be full of experts who are there to facilitate the transportation network that allows people, goods, and services to move into, out of, and around this country? Shouldn’t the Secretary of Transportation be offering up that expertise to speed recovery, and telling the public about the collaboration?
Apparently not. All he seems able to do is threaten transportation providers with government enforcement actions. He’s done this in past transportation messes. All I've seen him do is threaten. As though the wrath of thousands of unhappy customers isn’t plenty of incentive for transportation companies to fix their problems.
Delta Airlines is apparently having trouble recovering from Friday’s computer issues, and “Secretary Pete’s” contribution to solving the issue is a strongly worded Xeet/Tweet:
We have received reports of continued disruptions and unacceptable customer service conditions at Delta Air Lines, including hundreds of complaints filed with USDOT. I have made clear to Delta that we will hold them to all applicable passenger protections.
Since Mr. Buttigieg’s name still comes up in lists of potential presidential candidates, it helpful to keep in mind that Mr. Buttigieg is useless. Contacts in Indiana tell me he was useless as mayor of South Bend (“Mayor Pete”). And he’s been useless as U.S. Secretary of Transportation (“Secretary Pete”). Pete Buttigieg is useless.
Though I guess with head of the U.S. Secret Service Kimberly Cheatle testifying before Congress today, there may be a line forming of useless administrators of the Biden/Harris administration.
Discussion (35)
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Pete was more destructive than useless as Mayor of South Bend. He is a skilled political cameleon.
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DOT is full of something, but I don't think it's experts.
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My wife and daughter are flying on Delta today. Had a flight at 0600 but the pilots discovered an issue with the brakes after they had boarded, so everyone got off. They finally left at noon, either on a replacement plane or it got fixed. I tried to call Delta to help my wife out with rescheduling things but couldn't find a phone number. Everything was online. Finally found a number through Bing and it had a recorded message that they no longer had phone customer service.
That being said, her experience with people at the airport was good. She stood in line for two hours to reach an agent and he was great help. Best he could do on the connection was tomorrow morning, so he gave her a hotel credit and a food voucher. That part has worked smoothly. Fortunately, they were leaving a day early for a conference, so won't miss anything tomorrow, barring additional incidents.
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In P.J. O'Rourke's Parliament of Whores, the National Highway Transportation Agency, part of DOT, was full of car guys. They had to explain why driver error was not the cause of "how fast does your Audi go in park."
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And, Secretary of Defense Austin disappearing in a crisis, with his 2d in command unaware of his absence.
Another competitor in the useless competition in the Biden Cabinet.
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