Obama begins US Midwest bus tour

US President Barack Obama slammed partisan politics and called on lawmakers to prioritize economic growth as he kicked off a three-day bus tour through Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. Obama spoke at a town hall meeting in Decorah, Iowa, last afternoon. "The problem we have is not with our country. The problem is that our politics is broken," he said. "There are a whole host of ideas that we could be implementing right now that traditionally have had bipartisan support. The only thing that is preventing us from passing them is that there are some folks in Congress who think that doing something in cooperation with me, or this White House, that that somehow is bad politics. " The US President said he will release a detailed plan to boost the economy, create jobs and control the country''s deficit when Congress returns to Washington in September, the (CNN) reported. Obama''s three-day Midwestern tour was billed by the White House as an opportunity for the President to talk about job growth and the effects of national economic policy with people in their own communities. He began his tour earlier in the day with a town hall meeting before a supportive crowd at a riverside Minnesota park in Cannon Falls. The President touched on similar themes at the two meetings, addressing issues from broadband policy to increasing capital available for small farmers. On Tuesday, the president is scheduled to attend a rural economic forum in Peosta, Iowa, with members of the White House Rural Council, created by Obama in June to report on the economic climate in rural America. He will travel to Illinois on Wednesday for events in Atkinson and Alpha before returning to Washington.