Rural assistance

More than $2.7 billion of stimulus aid for struggling parts of rural America has gone to the nation's biggest metropolitan areas.

That's nearly a quarter of the $12 billion in rural assistance the government has paid out so far under President Obama's economic stimulus package . . . It went to small, far-flung suburbs in metropolitan areas with more than a million residents, including growing towns around Atlanta and Phoenix.

The spending reignites a longstanding debate over what "rural" really means in an increasingly urban nation.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-12-27-rural-stimulus-aid_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

This is not a question of the meaning of "rural".

Obama is simply funneling aid intended for rural areas to his urban base of support.