President Barack Obama says lawmakers should rethink how congressional districts are drawn as a way to improve the country's political climate.
Obama criticized gerrymandering and joked it's the reason "why our districts are shaped like earmuffs or spaghetti."
Obama's comments in an address to Illinois state lawmakers is sure to resonate with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and his GOP counterparts who've been pushing that idea.
It's one of the policy changes Rauner wants from Democrats as he continues a standoff with them over a state budget, now eight months overdue.
Obama also says that people around the country are turned off by the current "poisonous political climate" in the U.S.
The president's speech is focused on how politicians can work better together. He told state lawmakers that partisanship makes people cynical and says "we gotta build a better politics."
