Obama, Urban America, and Detroit

What role should the federal government play in rebuilding America's cities, particularly Detroit? That's the question TIME explored in a piece last weekend. Here's the key takeaway:

...will cities get the support they want from Washington? Given President Barack Obama's race and background as community organizer in some of the bleakest stretches of Chicago's South Side, expectations were high that his administration would be the first in nearly four decades to substantively deal with the challenges facing urban America. He was called the country's first "urban president," and even created the first White House Office of Urban Policy. Obama has said that his administration's policies, like the American Relief and Recovery Act, and the then-pending health care package, would help cities, that they would "disproportionately impact African-American and Latino families, simply because they're the ones who are most vulnerable." But so far, that very broad approach has proved a disappointment to his urban supporters. Says Congressman John Conyers of Obama's urban policy: "It's been made a low priority."

On Wednesday, President Obama will continue his Main Street Tour, with stops in Quincy, Ill., and Fort Madison, Iowa. So far, however, no plans for Detroit -- a city suffering from decades of divestment and some of the most extreme effects of the economic crisis.

Read the full story here.