Don't Forget, Local Governments Are Facing a Fiscal Crisis of Their Own

President Barack Obama has won an impressive, if terribly divisive, campaign to become only the second post-World War II Democrat to win the presidential election twice (Republicans did it four times). And yet, an unsatisfying omission—the 'what wasn’t said' factor—in the campaign is gnawing at me. Here’s why: The presidential and vice-presidential debates, speeches, and interviews were revealing if for no other reason than to underscore the fact that jobs and the economy attract everyone’s attention, as does the looming "fiscal cliff." The two top priorities—creating jobs and preventing a fiscal collapse—ought to concern us all, but missing have been two crucial related realities: honest discussion of the real geography of job creation in this country (hint: it's in our cities), and the "other" looming fiscal crisis, namely, the one facing state and local governments.

Both candidates omitted discussion of these issues. We can surmise that neither Obama nor Romney, perhaps wisely, wanted rural and possibly suburban voters to be confronted with the stark truth: job creation favors metropolitan regions and local governments are in at least a precariously comparable position to that of the federal government.