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    October 17, 2011

Obama Bus Tour to Campaign for Jobs Proposals

   VOA News
   President Barack Obama waves as he walks out of the White House in
   Washington, before his departure on the Marine One helicopter, October
   17, 2011. Photo: AP
   President Barack Obama waves as he walks out of the White House and
   across the South Lawn in Washington, before his departure on the Marine
   One helicopter, October 17, 2011.

   U.S. President Barack Obama begins a bus tour of two southern states on
   Monday, hoping to rally public support for his calls on Congress to
   pass his recent proposal for creating jobs.
   Obama's first stop is Asheville, North Carolina. He is expected to
   spend the next three days touring North Carolina and Virginia, two
   traditionally Republican-leaning states that he won in his 2008
   election and hopes to win again in his bid for a second term next year.
   But, polls show his public approval has declined in both states as the
   U.S. economic recovery has faltered.
   Obama aides say this week's bus tour is about his jobs proposal, not
   his re-election campaign. They say the president will urge Congress to
   first approve $35 billion in aid to state and local governments to help
   them avoid laying off teachers, police officers and firefighters.
   The U.S. Senate's Republican minority blocked Obama's full jobs package
   last week, prompting him to call for the provisions in the bill to be
   passed by lawmakers piece by piece. Republicans have expressed support
   for some of those provisions, but complained that the complete
   $447-billion package contained wasteful spending and job-killing tax
   increases on wealthy Americans.
   The road trip is Obama's second in the armored bus since he toured the
   U.S. Midwest in August on a similar campaign to pressure Congress into
   enacting his economic agenda.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

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