How to explain the urban turn of Rand Paul, a man who once claimed that Detroit would receive a federal bailout “over my dead body”? It seems safe to assume that he wants to bolster his intellectual reputation, tarnished by recent plagiarism charges, and to show that Republicans can compete in urban policy and politics. A 2016 presidential candidate, Paul may also be hoping to strengthen his bipartisan bonafides. The Obama administration has never entertained a Motown bailout, but Democrats would presumably like to be able to say they did something to help struggling cities. What a coup it would be for the junior Senator from Kentucky, were he to somehow seize the lead on urban policy and bring Democrats along with him.

Full details have not been made public, but based on what Paul has said about his proposal, it will invite comparisons with Enterprise Zones, the oldest urban policy idea in the GOP playbook.

Around about 1980, the failure of Great Society spending to prevent the near-collapse of New York and other cities had become obvious. As an alternative, Congressman Jack Kemp began championing targeted tax relief and deregulation for poor urban areas.

Kemp, who also served as George Bush Sr.’s Secretary for Housing and Urban Development, never succeeded in implementing true Enterprise Zones at the federal level. …