Obama shows city roots, names urban-policy aides

WASHINGTON -- From the hip-hop on his iPod to the urban-policy aides he named Thursday, President Obama is demonstrating what it's like to have a chief executive who's city to his bones.

Since he arrived in town, Obama has visited a chili joint and trendy eateries, a charter school, a community center and the Kennedy Center. On break this month from his new job, he didn't chop brush on a ranch; he played basketball in Chicago.

White House priorities have also taken something of a U-turn. Last week, Obama signed a stimulus package that funnels tens of billions of dollars to programs long sought by metropolitan areas.

And on Thursday, he fulfilled a campaign promise to coordinate all federal urban policies at the White House. The idea, Obama said, is "to bring long overdue attention to the urban areas where 80% of the American people live and work."

The new point men are Adolfo Carrión, White House director of Urban Affairs, and Derek Douglas, special assistant to the president for urban affairs. Carrión, who will report directly to Obama, is president of the Bronx, a borough of New York, and president of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. Douglas is Washington counsel to New York Gov. David Paterson.

Since 1828, when Andrew Jackson made it from the Carolina backwoods to the presidency, politicians have worked hard to showcase whatever rural or small-town roots they can summon. That's never been an option for Obama, who spent his childhood in Honolulu and Jakarta, Indonesia, followed by college, law school and adulthood in Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Chicago.

"Here's a guy who gets it, with no staff whispering in his ear," says Carol Coletta, president of the group CEOs for Cities. "He knows this stuff. He's lived this experience."

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, says Obama and his aides have been receptive to mayors' input. "There's a whole paradigm shift. We're talking the same language," says Diaz, an independent. He's among about 70 mayors meeting with Obama today.

Some skeptics — mayors and academics among them — wonder whether Obama will make real policy changes or just offer more money and a hip urban style. Demographer Richard Florida, author of Cities and the Creative Class, says he doesn't see a strategy to maximize cities' economic strengths.

"I am concerned about the absence of a forward-looking urban agenda" targeted to areas built on ideas, knowledge and technology, Florida says, but adds: "It's early on. He has potential."

Obama said in announcing the appointments that the new White House Office of Urban Affairs will "develop a strategy for metropolitan America" and make sure urban funds promote economic development.

Politicians in both parties have long held up small towns and rural America as models of "traditional values" such as patriotism. Last year, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin went so far as to call small towns "the real America."

Demographers and historians say the nation has become more diverse, sophisticated and open to a president such as Obama. "I'm always astounded when you go into a small town and find the sushi bar," urban historian Joel Kotkin says. "Obama being a cosmopolitan figure is not as jarring as it might have been even 10 years ago."

Obama's White House is not only urban but Chicago-centric. Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, head of intergovernmental relations at the White House, has run Chicago's transit authority and was CEO of a company responsible for large tracts of public housing. Chief of staff Rahm Emanuel represented Chicago in the U.S. House. Arne Duncan, the Education secretary, was chief of Chicago's schools.

Senior adviser David Axelrod and White House social secretary Desiree Rogers also are Chicagoans. Michelle Obama, who grew up on Chicago's South Side, worked for Mayor Richard Daley and managed relations between the University of Chicago Medical Center and its low-income neighborhood.

"It's a very urban administration. It's the first time in American history that I can recall that the regions and geography that have been losing population have come into power," Kotkin says.

Obama pledged last year to upgrade mass transit, expand research and broadband access, and fund community development grants for cities. The stimulus bill he signed Tuesday makes down payments on those and other urban priorities, including energy conservation and high-speed rail.

Daley calls the package "very serious. We are re-aligning our values" toward more jobs, less pollution and other goals that benefit all Americans.

Fred Siegel, an urban historian in New York City, says the stimulus is neither timely nor targeted and blames Obama's Chicago roots. "It's a turkey," he says. "Obama is doing what he knows. This is how business is done in Chicago. Everyone gets cut in."

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, head of a group called Republican Mayors and Local Officials, says that "in terms of policy, the Bush administration was not friendly to cities." He says there's a chance Obama will deliver because of Daley.

"If I was going to put one person in a president's life and say, 'Listen to this guy,' it would be Mayor Daley," Cornett says. "So the fact that he comes from Chicago gives me great hope."