Obama: It's Time To Take Care Of Our Cities

When a new President enters office, there is a wide authority to enact new policies, Executive Orders and general direction. This is especially so when the new staff is set up within the White House. FDR had his brain trust that helped push through the great reforms of the early and mid-1930s, LBJ formed the beginnings of his plan for a Great Society and George W. Bush stripped family planning funds for Africa and instituted a faith-based initiative office that helped to blur the separation of state. It makes us ask what things Obama will do? Well we already know he is busy preparing to get rid of the many draconian directives of the Bush Administration, such as a (technical) ban on embryonic stem cells and the open season for the oil companies. So what new items will be on the agenda of an Obama Administration?

From The Washington Post:

"He's going to have a White House chief of urban policy," Jarrett told the Trotter Group, an organization of black columnists.

She declined to divulge any names of potential choices for the post. "I'm sure there are plenty of candidates. It's a great job," Jarrett said.

Despite the many national problems confronting the new administration, she continued, Obama remains committed to earlier pledges to establish such an office. "Because he began as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, he understands at the local level is really where you can impact change and that local government can play a vital role as we try to jump start our economy," she said. "So having somebody in the White House, because there are so many different agencies that really can impact urban America and to have one person whose job it is to really pull all of that together, is really a critical position. And there are plenty of terrific candidates for that spot."

It has been decades since a President has truly committed resources to our cities. For far too long we have been pushing ourselves out into suburbs and exurbs while the urban centers rot and decay. Recently the idea to revitalize our cities has been to bulldoze what remains and gentrify large areas, bringing in the wealthy and driving out long-time residents.

Barack Obama, as a community organizer knows exactly what plagues our inner cities because he has worked to help people who live there. Establishing a White House Chief of Urban Policy is an excellent start to provide hope and a new day for the fake America majority of Americans who live in our nation's cities.