UNITED NATIONS, May 19 -- In one of the stranger press stakeouts at the UN of late, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood appeared Wednesday to talk about distracted driving. Even during a four second text message, he said, a car travels the length of a football field.
Inner City Press asked LaHood about a controversy in the news, the US's refusal to allow Mexican trucks into the country, contrary to NAFTA. LaHood replied that "Mexican trucks have nothing to do with distracted driving." Video here, from Minute 21:16. But the issue is sure to arise during President Calderon's state dinner with Barack Obama. And LaHood went on to praise prohibiting truck drivers from texting.
Since Jennifer Smith of Focus Driven had also denounced the use of "handsfree" devices while driving, Inner City Press asked if Wednesday's call also targeted this form of distraction. "All are distractions," LaHood said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who did not stay to answer any questions, had announced an Administrative Instruction prohibiting UN personnel from texting while driving. But when Inner City Press later asked Ban's spokesman how this would be enforced, what the penalties were, the spokesman said the AI is not yet in place. Nor could he answer about UN staff in Cyprus causing a crash that killed two Bulgarians.
While few reporters asked questions, more than a dozen were present, drawn by the presence of US Ambassador Susan Rice and Russia's Vitaly Churkin, hoping one or both might speak about Iran. She did not.
When Ray LaHood spoke of anti-texting legislation in "countries including... Taiwan," Ambassador Rice reacted. In the UN, it's "Taiwan Province of China." LaHood did not clarify. Video here.
In fact, even a question addressed to Ambassador Churkin, LaHood stepped in to answer, touting the Obama administration's spending. Afterwards, Churkin said that while LaHood had promoted Obama's agenda, he Churkin would now speak for the international community.
The day after the US's sponsoring of a draft resolution to impose sanctions on Iran was met by a Brazilian vow not to engage, and similar skepticism by Turkey, the US's showing at the driving stakeout seemed, in a word, distracted.
As the other speakers waited for LaHood to arrive, and just after Inner City Press had asked Ban Ki-moon about the report on the UN's role in Sri Lankan war crimes put out by the International Crisis Group, Samantha Power approached Mr. Ban to mention the various Sergio de Mello projects and to introduce her husband Cass Sunstein, the Obama administration's regulatory guru. (His reaction to the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency being weakened, and to the BP oil spill, were not able to be inquired into.)
LaHood also tipped his hat to the couple in his remarks. But what does Ms. Power, who literally wrote the book on genocide, have to say about the UN's and US Mission's positions on Sri Lanka, compared to the ICG report? While like Mexican trucks not related to distracted driving, these are questions needing answers. Watch this site.
