Over at StLouis.com, check this hed — Layoffs to gut East St. Louis police force. And this lede:

The Rev. Joseph Tracy said he’s tired of going to funerals. And now, he suspects he’ll be going to more of them.

“It’s open field day now,” said Tracy, the pastor of Straightway Baptist Church here. “The criminals are going to run wild.”

Gang activity. Drug dealing. Cold-blooded killing. Tracy worries that a decision to shrink the police force by almost 30 percent will bring more of everything.

Now East St. Louis is not St. Louis proper, but you tell me if that is the sort of environment into which the White House wants to drop President Obama.