In Flint, the Buck Stops Where It's Politically Convenient

If not for Detroit, its close cousin about an hour south, the city of Flint, Michigan, would be the epitome of the Rust Belt. A city that has lost over half its population in the last half-decade or so as manufacturing abandoned it for greener pastures, it’s now in the news as a city with a water supply so fouled that residents are being sickened with a slow drip of lead poisoning from its corroding, ancient network of water pipes.

To hear the national media tell the story, you would think it was a racial issue: Mostly poor, minority residents of Flint were ignored and abused by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder. Snyder’s mea culpa came earlier this week, as he admitted, “Government failed you … by breaking the trust you place in us.”