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President Obama travels to Detroit on Wednesday for a celebration of sorts of the success of the automobile industry bailout he put into effect during his first year in office.

But the victory lap runs uncomfortably close to the latest crisis weighing on his administration. About 70 miles north, in Flint, residents have been poisoned by water contaminated with lead, prompting Mr. Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency to say on Tuesday that it was reviewing what might have gone wrong in its response.

So, as the president heralds the 640,000 auto industry jobs created since the rescue and a record level of American car sales last year, he is also on the defensive over his handling of the water situation in Flint.

He has no plans to visit the city, but White House officials said he had met in Washington on Tuesday with Karen Weaver, the Flint mayor, who was in town for a previously scheduled meeting of the nation’s mayors. He assured her that the federal government would support state and local efforts to address the crisis, officials said.

In Detroit, Mr. Obama is scheduled to visit the 2016 North American International Auto Show, in an effort to remind the public of the wisdom of the aggressive steps he took at the start of his presidency to bolster the economy and to prop up General Motors and Chrysler, in particular. Then, he will speak at the United Automobile Workers-General Motors Center for Human Resources on the Detroit Riverfront.

He is also planning to have lunch with Mike Duggan, the Detroit mayor, and highlight the support his administration has provided to that city, including after it declared bankruptcy in 2013, through federal funds to eliminate blight and through initiatives to bolster transportation and housing.

The success story stands in stark contrast to embattled Flint, the birthplace of General Motors and the U.A.W.