LaHood waffles about staying as DOT Secretary in Obama second term

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood didn't say he would remain on the job should President Obama win re-election to a second term. But he didn't say he wouldn't either.

Asked today at The International Air Cargo Forum & Exposition in Atlanta if he would want to stay on in a second Obama term, LaHood instead spent several minutes talking about the challenges and rewards of holding the Department of Transportation's (DOT) top job since January 2009. Then he said that if there is a second term, "I'm going to sit down with the President, figure it out, and see where it takes me."

LaHood said he would probably not be asked to serve in the same post in a Mitt Romney Administration, although he quickly pointed out that he is a Republican, and that he was "proud of it."

LaHood, who spent 14 years as an Illinois Congressman before joining the Obama Administration, is not the first DOT secretary to serve as a member of the opposition party. Norman Y. Mineta, a Democrat, was DOT secretary under President George W. Bush. Mineta served five-and-a-half years, the longest tenure of any secretary in the DOT's 45-year history.