Obama's Interest in Rail Travel

Today, Barack Obama decided to meet with an Amtrak worker and talk about expanding and improving rail service. The timing is not an accident.

He is alone among the presidential candidates in not advocating a cut in gas taxes over the summer, a stance for which he received an extremely rare bit of (conditional) praise from Paul Krugman, but for which he was attacked by his opponents.

The emphasis on improving the rail system seems designed to show that he is searching for other, better options to offer some sort of relief to commuters. Or, at least, to demonstrate that he’s not an agent of inaction on the issue, as a Hillary Clinton negative ad currently airing in Indiana accuses.