President Obama embarked on a midwestern bus tour today. Here is his schedule for the next two days, according to whitehouse.gov:
The President kicks off his three day rural tour today in Cannon Falls, Minnesota with a meeting at Lower Hannah's Bend Park at 1:05 pm EDT. Later this afternoon, he will be in Decorah, Iowa for another town hall session with locals at the Seed Savers Exchange, which starts at 6:15 EDT.
On Tuesday, the President will be in Peosta, Iowa, where he will hold a Rural Economic Forum with members of the White House Rural Council, which was created in June to report on the economic climate in rural America. The President's opening remarks will be live streamed at 12:50 pm EDT, as will his closing remarks at 3:30 pm EDT.
The President will travel to his home state of Illinois on Wednesday, where he will hold two more town hall meetings, the first will be in Atkinson (Illinois) at 12:30 pm EDT, at the Wyffels Hybrids Atkinson Production Facility, followed by another that afternoon at the Country Corner Farm in Alpha (Illinois) at 4:30 pm EDT.
Do you geography buffs notice anything? I sure did.
Here's a visual...
The President's plane landed near St. Paul, Minnesota, where he caught the bus. St. Paul is about twenty miles from Hudson, Wisconsin.
Cannon Falls is south of St. Paul, but still close to Wisconsin.
Decorah, Iowa is about a 45 minute drive to Ferryville, Wisconsin. Peosta, Iowa is even closer - only about 15 miles from the Wisconsin border.
By the time the president reaches Atkinson, Illinois and Alpha Illinois, he will have missed his chance for a quick jaunt to the Badger state, but it would still only be a couple hours if he wanted to stop and visit us.
Interesting, isn't it? President Obama will be visiting 3 of the 4 states that border Wisconsin in the next two days, but can't work us into his schedule. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, candidate Obama went out of his way to visit Wisconsin numerous times. He did the same during the first two years of his presidency, visiting Wisconsin businesses and schools often. Since January 26th, 2011, though, when he visited Orion Energy Systems in Manitowoc, Wisconsin right after he gave his State of the Union Address, the President has not made an appearance here and has barely mentioned Wisconsin at all.
Was it something we said?
7:10 PM CDT: In case it's not clear...I want President Obama to be reelected in 2012. I want him to win Wisconsin like he did in 2008. The point of this diary is not to suggest anything other than my opinion that he needs to get on our bus and embrace the middle-class, pro-labor movement that is gaining speed in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, and many other states. The truth is he has avoided anything related to Wisconsin since February of this year, and I think that's a strategic mistake..because I want him to win. I usually don't like to be so explicit because I don't think it makes for interesting writing, but it's clear from a few of the comments that my diary did not strike some people as the gentle jab that I intended. Again, I'll say it...with all due respect, you're on the wrong bus, Mr. President. The winners' bus is on this side of the river.