Time to hit the road.

• Position: Charlotte - Services of Anthony Foxx

Anthony Foxx's career was zooming along--president of his class at Davidson College, law degree from New York University law school, jobs with the U.S. Department of Justice and House Judiciary Committee, two terms on the Charlotte City Council, the city's youngest mayor--until he hit a few speed bumps. He wanted to raise the city's prepared-food and drink tax to help pay for the Carolina Panthers' renovation of Bank of America Stadium. The General Assembly said no. Not only that, but the legislature is close to taking control of Charlotte Douglas International Airport--sometimes called the jewel in the Queen City's crown--from the city and giving it to a regional authority. He thinks Charlotte should raise property taxes to pay for an extension of a streetcar line. The City Council, even with fellow Democrats in the majority, doesn't agree.

Foxx seemed feckless, foiled by both state and local government. Then a friend threw him a lifeline. President Barack Obama nominated him to become U.S. secretary of transportation, lauding Foxx for the streetcar project, airport expansion and plans to extend the city's light-rail system. How much credit the mayor is due for any of that is debatable, but one thing isn't: "They probably could have found other people more credentialed," says Eric Heberlig, an associate professor of politics at UNC Charlotte. Foxx, however, makes a much better political chess piece.

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The pick kills two birds with one stone, silencing critics who contend that Obama's Cabinet is too white and that the president's administration hasn't done enough to raise the profiles of his party's young politicians. Secretary of transportation is a plum job: Few in Washington want to cut its...