Obama Kicks Off Midwest Bus Tour

President Barack Obama will travel to Minnesota Monday to kick off a three day bus tour across the Midwest.

According to the White House, the tour, which will also take the President to Iowa and Illinois, is aimed at highlighting “ways to grow the economy, strengthen the middle class and accelerate hiring in communities and towns across the nation.”

However, despite the emphasis on the economy, the trip holds inescapable political undertones. The President is traveling to the region amid growing dissatisfaction with his administration and just days after the GOP field gathered in Iowa for the Ames Straw Poll, an intense campaign that saw plenty of mud thrown at Obama.

Republicans, including Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney, have blasted the trip as a distraction.

“I think the American people would have preferred having him do the work that he was elected to do, which is to go to work to get people back to work,” Romney told reporters in Iowa last week. “I sure as heck wouldn’t be on a bus tour.”

The President is scheduled to host a town hall event in each state.