Reassessing Obama's Urban Policies

In an interesting retort to an article we featured a couple of weeks ago, Kunichoff, writing for Truthout, reviews the Obama Administration's record in terms of housing, education and immigration and finds little to celebrate.

She writes, "One of [Obama's] initial steps as president was to appoint the first White House director of urban policy...the key components of Obama's housing policy included the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) and a cut for homeowners from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).

[Yet critics point out that the Administration] 'consistently unveiled programs that underperformed, did little to reduce mortgage debts owed by ordinary Americans and rejected a get-tough approach with banks.'"

As well, Kunichoff points out that Obama's education policy, which boosted funding for charter schools, is being criticized for drawing money away from the public school system.