His best analogy was people complaining that there flight from NYC to LA was "delayed an hour" and comparing it to the fact it often took years to cross the country ("people dieing and babies being born in the group you traveled with").
"New York to California in 5 hours?! That used to take 30 years, you die of dysentery, your oxen would get ill and you'd have to float your wagon across a river. Now, you watch a movie, take a dump and you're home."
Airplanes are still amazing technology, but they're wrong for most of their uses. High-speed rail makes more sense for mid-distance travel. At 300 mph, I'd even consider using it for New York to California-- much prettier, and not dependent on a fuel that will be very expensive in 10-20 years.
It's funny, it's the one country on the planet that would really benefit from doing it and yet they're really late to the party.
(Fast rail may still be the way to go for NY to California, who knows. It is definitely viable inside the sprawls, like the East Coast or the West Coast.)