President Barack Obama came to Iowa on the first two days of his bus tour through the Midwest, where he hopes to highlight economic issues. He bashed Congress for not being willing to compromise for “shared sacrifice” but didn’t reveal much about his forthcoming plan for improving the economy.

After a brief stop in Minnesota, Obama came to Decorah for a town hall meeting at the Seed Savers Exchange farm. The White House released the full text of the president’s speech as well as the Q and A. We are going to hear these themes again and again during Obama’s re-election campaign:

The question is, how do we manage these challenging times and do the right things when it comes to those things that we can control? See, the problem we have is not with our country; the problem is that our politics is broken. (Applause.) The problem is, is that we’ve got the kind of partisan brinksmanship that is willing to put party ahead of country, that’s more interested in seeing their political opponents lose than seeing the country win. (Applause.)

And nowhere was that more evident than this most recent debt ceiling debacle. The fact of the matter is that our debt and deficits are manageable if we make some intelligent choices and make sure that there are shared sacrifices as well as shared opportunities. (Applause.) And had we made some decent decisions over just the last two, three months. Had we been willing to seize the opportunity that was before us, then there is no reason why we had to go through this downgrade, because that did not have to do with economics, that had to do with politics. It was an assessment — (applause) — that our Congress is not able to come up with the kinds of compromises that move this country forward.

And I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty frustrated about that. (Applause.) I am pretty frustrated about that because, given the challenges we face, we don’t have time to play games. […]

Now, the good news is there are things we could be doing right now that would make a difference for our economy. Back in December, when some of my folks on the other side of the aisle were more willing to compromise, we were able to put a package together that cut taxes for families by an average of $1,000.

And what I’ve said is, let’s continue this payroll tax cut into next year, so as the economy is strengthening, ordinary families who are still digging themselves out of credit card debt or seeing their homes underwater, they’ve got a little more purchasing power. That will be good for small businesses and large businesses, and they will hire.

We could right now say we are going to go ahead and renew that tax cut, and that would be good for the American people and good for the economy. There’s no reason to wait. (Applause.)

There’s no reason for us to wait putting construction workers back to work all across the country. Nobody took a bigger hit than those who were involved in the housing boom when the boom went bust. So why don’t we put them to work right now rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our schools all across America? (Applause.)

There’s a proposal in Congress right now. Congress should pass it and get it done. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be helping our small businesses and startup businesses. We’ve passed 16 tax cuts for small businesses. And right now, we’ve got a bill pending that is called the American Invents bill. It basically reforms our patent system so if somebody has got a creative idea, they can turn it into a business right away without red tape, without bureaucracy. That’s who we are: a nation of inventors. This traditionally has had bipartisan support. What are we waiting for? We should pass it right now to give a spark to industry. (Applause.)

We’ve got pending trade legislation. Tom Vilsack and I were talking on the way over, on the bus here, and the truth of the matter is, is that the agricultural sector in America, the cornerstone of states like Iowa, is doing very well. But we could be doing more. And my general attitude is, why don’t we want to open up markets so that the extraordinary bounty of the heartland of America is making its way there, but also manufacturing is making its way there.

Look, we’ve got a whole bunch of Kias and Hyundais here in the United States of America on our roads, and that’s fine and good. But I want some Chryslers and some GMs and some Fords on the roads of the South Korea as well. We should go ahead and get those trade deals done. (Applause.)

So 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. Well, you know what, you guys didn’t send us there to be thinking about our jobs. You sent us there to be thinking about your jobs and your future. (Applause.) […]

And so I understand that after this last midterm, you voted for divided government. But you didn’t vote for dysfunctional government. (Applause.) You didn’t vote for a broken government that can’t make any decisions, can’t move the country forward at all. That’s not what you voted for.

And so some people have been saying, well, Mr. President, why don’t you call Congress back for a special session? And what I’ve said is the last thing that people need for confidence right now is to watch folks on Capitol Hill arguing all over again. (Applause.)

Why on earth would Republicans agree to “shared sacrifice” now? From the earliest weeks of Obama’s presidency, when he lowballed the stimulus and made unnecessary concessions without securing Republican votes, he has failed to be a strong voice on economic policy. His administration hasn’t done anything to challenge big banks or other Wall Street firms that helped cause the economic meltdown. Obama has validated conservative rhetoric about the need for budget austerity.

It especially irks me to see Obama defending his deal last December as an example of a good compromise. He had all the leverage he needed to win concessions from Republicans at that time, because the Bush tax cuts were going to expire on December 31 without his signature. The president could have insisted on more economic stimulus or longer-term help for the unemployed before agreeing to sign any bill extending the tax cuts. Or, he could have insisted on raising the debt ceiling as part of that deal, preventing this summer’s brinksmanship and the big domestic spending cuts down the pike. Instead, Obama went along with the conservative line that it would be perilous to raise anyone’s taxes in a weak economy. He’ll cave again when the debate on extending the cuts comes back in late 2012.

Obama has no choice but to blame Congress. Unemployment is stuck at historically high levels as he launches his re-election campaign. Maybe the tactic will work, because Congress has an even lower approval rating now than the president (who is in the low 40s in most polling). But you have to be delusional to believe Obama has done all he could have done to get the economy moving again. Instead of firing his incompetent Treasury secretary, he begged Timothy Geithner to stay. I don’t have high hopes for the economic package he’s going to unveil in September. Even if Congress passes a few extra tax cuts, businesses won’t hire in large numbers unless they anticipate greater future demand for their goods and services.

I’ll update this post after today’s White House Rural Economic Forum at Northeast Iowa Community College in Peosta (Dubuque County). U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will be participating along with the president.

Any comments about Obama’s economic policy or re-election prospects are welcome in this thread.