New Delhi
9 August 2010
Will Barack Obama do a Jimmy Carter? The question is uppermost in the minds
of many in India and Japan, but for entirely different reasons.
As the 44th president of the US gets ready for an Asian tour in November which will take
him to India, South Korea and Japan, Indians are asking whether Obama will, like Carter
before him, skip Pakistan altogether, or will he go the way of Bill Clinton, who spent five
days here and five hours in Islamabad.
The Japanese, on the other hand, would want to know whether Obama will indeed visit
Hiroshima when he travels to the Japanese port city of Yokohama for the annual Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. The unprecedented presence of the US
ambassador to Japan at the 65th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6
has raised hopes that Obama might become the first sitting US president to visit the city
after Jimmy Carter visited Hiroshima's peace museum in 1984. Carter made the trip
three years after he stepped down as president.
Neither New Delhi nor Washington has officially announced the dates for Obama's visit
to India, but it is expected to take place in the second week of November, possibly
between November 7 and 10. All Republican presidents of the US to have visited India --
George W Bush in 2006, Richard Nixon in 1969 and Dwight Eisenhower in 1959 --
travelled to Pakistan, too. In contrast, Democrat presidents of the US have been
discerning. While Bill Clinton spent five days in India and five hours in Islamabad in
2000, Carter skipped Pakistan altogether from his 1978 visit here.
The US president might still transit Pakistan, but his calendar is tight. His itinerary
includes back-to-back visits to India, South Korea and Japan. Obama is scheduled to
visit Seoul, South Korea for the G-20 Summit on November 11 and 12. He then travels to
Japan for the APEC summit on November 13 and 14.
What is also not yet certain is whether Obama will follow Bush and Clinton into visiting
Hyderabad or will he opt for Bengaluru. What is a certainty though is a visit to the Taj
Mahal in Agra with his family.
Obama is no stranger to the Indian sub-continent. He has made no secret of his
admiration for Mahatma Gandhi and fascination for Lord Hanuman, whose idol he carried
as a lucky charm during his presidential campaign. Obama has nominated his friend,
former room-mate and fund-raiser Vinai Thummalapally as the US ambassador to the
Central American nation of Belize.
Bill Burton, an Obama aide who is currently the White House deputy press secretary,
has been reported as saying that Obama visited India (Hyderabad) and Pakistan in 1981.
Obama has recalled spending about three weeks in Pakistan, travelling with his
Pakistani college friend and visiting Karachi and Larkana in the Sindh province.
Also vying for Obama's attention will be another Asian country, Indonesia. The
Indonesians are disappointed Obama has had to cancel his visit twice already, but it is
not certain whether he will indeed travel there in November this year, particularly after
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the US president expressed interest in
participating in the East Asia Summit to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2011.
// Box //
American presidents' travels
George W Bush
March 2006
Afghanistan, India (New Delhi, Hyderabad), Pakistan
Bill Clinton
March 2000
India (New Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Jaipur), Pakistan, Bangladesh
Jimmy Carter
January 1978
Iran, India
Richard Nixon
August 1969
Guam, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam (formerly South Vietnam), India,
Pakistan
Dwight Eisenhower
December 1959
He travelled to 11 European, Asian and North African countries on a 19-day trip. He
visited Italy, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Greece, Tunisia, France, Spain
and Morocco
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