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People should listen to Robert Reich:

Problem is, the nation doesn’t have nearly enough public transportation to handle the new demand. Even more absurdly, right now when it’s needed the most, public transportation across the land is being cut back. This is because transit costs are soaring by the same skyrocketing fuel prices that are forcing people out of their cars, at the same time transit revenues are shrinking because most transit systems depend largely on sales taxes, now dwindling as consumer purchases decline in this recession. A survey of the nation’s public transit agencies released last Friday showed 21 percent of rail operators now cutting back and 19 percent of bus operators.

Obviously, though, we "can't afford" massive new federal investments in transit infrastructure. An indefinite expenditure of $200 billion a year in Iraq, however, is easy as pie. And anyone who suggests spending less on war and more on productive domestic investment is an isolationist. Just keep repeating that.