President Obama is off on another campaign tour utilizing his two $1.1 million buses he had us buy for him so his campaign, unlike the Romney campaign, wouldn’t have to pay the bus fare.

Along with a scheduled stop for ice cream on Thursday and attending a full fledged ice cream social on Friday, Obama intends to hype his taxpayer-funded so-called investment in manufacturing. Unfortunately, this manufacturing effort may be working as well as Obama’s failed stimulus that was supposed to keep unemployment below 8 percent.

The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index has unexpectedly contracted for the first time since July 2009, sliding to 49.7 in June from May’s 53.5. Economists had expected a reading of 52.0.

The 12.3 point drop in the orders index — the largest drop since October 2001 (when, in the wake of 9/11, the index dropped 12.4 points) and the second largest decline since December 1980, has James Pethokoukis wondering whether the U.S. economy fallen back into recession.

Hopefully, during the bus tour voters will get a chance to ask Obama why manufacturing has contracted and jobs have been lost to China. Apparently Obama has anticipated such questions. He is expected to announce that the United States will file a trade complaint against China for new duties it imposed on American-made cars and trucks, including the Ohio-built Jeep Wrangler.