President's Speech to Mayors

We'll focus on creating more livable and environmentally sustainable communities. Because when it comes to development, it's time to throw out old policies that encouraged sprawl and congestion, pollution, and ended up isolating our communities in the process. We need strategies that encourage smart development linked to quality public transportation, that bring our communities together. ~ President Obama

Jumpin' jesus in a jelly donut! Please live up to your promise that your budget will reject the failed policies of the past.

One of the challenges of a federal government system, is that it inherently is behind the curve on best ideas bubbling up at a local level. Those ideas have to run the gauntlet of competition of other ideas and survive the test of time before accumulating enough data to become proven enough to apply at a national level (He even discusses that exact idea in this speech). Therefore, when the primary representative of the federal government fundamentally gets the inextricable link between housing, transportation, and energy at a much more profound level than some mayors, that can be a bit disconcerting:



Of course, there is a flip side. The challenge of governing at the local level is that you have weigh all of those other competing ideas to enact those that make the most sense and have the broadest support locally.

Full transcript after the jump.