Someone, Please Help Me...

I cannot understand President Obama's fixation on what he calls "high-speed rail". He has mentioned it several times including during at least one State of the Union Address.

The other day I heard him bring it up again.

If you understand something about the United States of America or the world or economics-in-general that I'm missing, please clue me in.

I'm searching to understand how a bullet train is going to:make us more competitive relative to China, or how it will make us safer from terrorists, or how it will free us from dependence on foreign oil, or how it will get nearly 10% of our working population back to work, or how it will defeat the menace of anthropogenic global warming, or how it will make our children perform better in math and science, or how it will close the wage gap between men and women or blacks and whites, or how it will make government more responsible and accountable to the tax payer, or how it will make Muslims feel better about their contribution to the world of mathematics, or how it will put more teachers in the classroom and more police on our streets, or how it will protect social security recipients and other pensioners, or how it will help us make healthier choices when we shop or eat in restaurants, or how it will reform immigration, or how it will make housing affordable for every American, or how it will help reign in Wall Street bonuses, or how it will curb CEO compensation, or how it will stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, or how it will make deep water oil exploration safer, or how it will ensure democracy in Egypt, or how it will get our soldiers out of Iraq or Afghanistan.

Those are ALL things that President Obama has said are his priorities.

In light of that, I think high-speed rail is a distraction. Keep it simple, Mr. President.