Obama promotes manufacturing in Iowa

BETTENDORF, Iowa — President Barack Obama is calling for a "robust and growing" manufacturing sector that will increase the number of products made in the United States.

Obama is visiting an Alcoa plant in Iowa that he says stands as a model of innovation and persistence in the face of a battered economy. Iowa also is politically significant for Obama — his victory in the 2008 caucuses there boosted his presidential campaign. The state is now overrun with Republicans seeking their party's presidential nomination by criticizing Obama's policies.

The president conceded that the economy is recovering slowly and that too many Americans remain unemployed. Recovery, he said, "is going to take some time."