Biden pitchman Landrieu hawks infrastructure and hope

ELM CITY, N.C. — The man entrusted with promoting President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan barreled into this North Carolina town of 1,200 with the same rumbling intensity as the passing freight trains that shake anyone sitting in a chair. But Mitch Landrieu, the former New Orleans mayor and the administration’s infrastructure coordinator, knows the diplomacy it requires. “I love airports because they make me think that we’re going to be OK in America,” Landrieu said last week after climbing into a Ford SUV. Landrieu said action on long-delayed infrastructure projects can’t foster “political” unity, but it can create a sense of “national” unity — if the American public and its leaders look past divisions on abortion, civil rights and more to focus on shared goals. He sees infrastructure as a vehicle for economic opportunity, yet demurred when asked if he planned to stay in his post as he said he serves at “the president’s pleasure.” Landrieu suggested his fate could change after the Nov. 8 elections and the possible ascension of the GOP to House and Senate majorities.