Now he must be as persuasive in selling transit to the community, which remains sharply divided on whether we need or can afford a mega-expensive rail system to alleviate traffic congestion between West O'ahu and Honolulu.

Contention grows louder by the day as the council heads for a final vote next week on imposing the .5-cent transit tax authorized by the Legislature and allowed to become law by Gov. Linda Lingle without her signature.

Transit is a hard sell because political leaders have gone about it backwards — tax first and ask questions later about the rail system's design, how much it will ultimately cost, who it will serve and how effectively it will relieve O'ahu's traffic.

Rail advocates say a dedicated source of local funding was a necessary first priority to show commitment to federal authorities wary of putting up their share of the financial support because of Honolulu's many false starts on transit.

But even if the council approves initial funding, local commitment is hardly convincing with the high level of disagreement in both government and the community.

How can we know that a future mayor and council won't abandon rail just as Hannemann and the current council have ditched Jeremy Harris' Bus Rapid Transit?

Who is to say that the governor and Legislature won't become skittish and refuse to authorize future tax increases to finish a rail line that the current level of funding will barely start?

Rail transit will survive its long road to its construction only if truly committed supporters such as Hannemann get busy building a real community consensus.

This means putting all cards on the table up front and recognizing that any tax increase — no matter how worthy the cause — is hard to swallow for a citizenry already clobbered by rising housing costs, gasoline prices and property taxes.

We need to be convinced that a rail system serving only one corner of the island will be worth this substantial economic sacrifice, that it will add enough to our quality of life to make up for the buying power we will lose to big increases in the sales tax.

The Legislature showed little regard for the economic hardship in the community by greedily taking 10 percent off the top of the city's transit tax, turning it into a back-door general tax increase with no clear purpose.

We need honest talk about the ultimate cost of rail transit.

Even Hannemann admits that the current tax increase will be enough to start the system, but not nearly enough to finish it. What will it ultimately take? One more cent on the excise tax? Two cents? We deserve to know going in.

Then there is the central question of competence: Is our local government — with its constant dithering, inability to say "no" to favored special interests and lack of accountability — capable of executing such a complex project?

Remember that H-1 is so congested because of poor planning that put thousands of new homes in West O'ahu without moving promised jobs out there to diminish the need to commute to town.

Just as discouraging is the way local government has botched far simpler tasks from curbside recycling and liquor law enforcement to beverage container redemptions and traffic cameras.

These sins are not Hannemann's, but it falls to him to show us what's going to be different this time if he hopes to ever see his trains roll.