WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is jetting away from Washington's political and budget battles just as crucial decisions and deadlines approach, focusing instead on Asia-Pacific nations and trying to persuade voters at home the distant region is essential to American jobs and security.
Obama departed Friday for summits in Hawaii and Indonesia and a visit to Australia in between.
For nine days, the president will be as many as 10,000 miles from home at a time when jobs, the frail economy and other domestic concerns matter most to the U.S. electorate. But Asia and the Pacific region are crucial to America's future, the White House insists.
Obama was born in Hawaii, spent boyhood years in Indonesia and points to himself as America's first Pacific president, so his worldview is shaped deeply by Asia.
His administration is showering attention on the region as a driver of global politics, a prized buyer of American products and a central player in protecting world peace.
"If you want America to be a world leader in this century, that leadership is going to have to include the Asia-Pacific," said Ben Rhodes , a deputy national security adviser.
Such a focus is essential to American interests, many analysts agree, but still a test for a president who is seeking to govern and run for re-election at once.
The White House hopes the world will see Obama's trip as a pivot point in American policy, as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton put it.
The war in Iraq will be over by year's end, the war in Afghanistan is winding down and Obama is trying to expand trade, security alliances and cultural ties with traditional allies and emerging powers across Asia.
The subtext of the trip agenda is Obama's intention to keep the United States a viable counterweight to a rising China , particularly in the eyes of other leaders in the region.
Earlier Friday at a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery , Obama paid tribute to the newest crop of American veterans. He lauded the sacrifices of the "9/11 generation," which stepped forward to fight for the nation in the past decade.Obama noted what he said was a promise kept to service members as the last American combat forces are set to leave Iraq , while hailing the "extraordinary" accomplishments of the past year.
En route to Hawaii, Obama also planned to attend a Veterans Day basketball game in San Diego between Michigan State and No. 1 North Carolina on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson. That's the aircraft carrier that took Osama bin Laden 's body to a burial at sea after American commandos killed the al-Qaida leader in Pakistan.
Source:
