Obama delays Asia trip

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs made the announcement on his Twitter feed Friday, a day after saying the trip would not be postponed, reflecting the fast-shifting debate on an issue testing the president's political credibility.

Gibbs also said Obama's wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha would no longer join the president on a poignant journey to Indonesia, where he lived as a boy for four years with his mother.

“The president will delay leaving for Indonesia and Australia — will now leave Sunday — the first lady and the girls will not be on the trip,” Gibbs wrote.

In his daily briefing, Gibbs was repeatedly pressed on whether the president's threatened effort to pass health care reform could further delay the visit to Asia but he refused to budge.

“The president is going on a trip on the 21st,” Gibbs said repeatedly.

The trip now figures to be an even faster sprint through Indonesia and Australia than previously scheduled, though the White House says it must go on as both nations are vital to Obama's bid to revive U.S. Asia-Pacific policy.

Obama has billed himself as America's first “Pacific president” and his journey had been timed to coincide with his daughters' school's spring break to allow the president to take his family.

The fact he must leave his wife and daughters at home may take the gloss off the trip for Obama and disappoint his hosts.

Gibbs however said even in Obama's original itinerary, there had never been plans for the president to visit his old school or the house where he lived when he was in Jakarta as a boy between 1967 and 1971.

But making the journey — with or without his family — was paramount, the White House stressed.

“The United States has been absent from the Asia Pacific region. We can't lead in this region of the world without strong bilateral relationships with Indonesia and Australia,” Gibbs said.

The president is also due to stop in the Pacific island of Guam, an unincorporated U.S. territory, on the way to Asia, to see American troops.

Reacting to the announcement, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd showed understanding.

“The president is welcome in Australia at any time. He knows that, the United States government knows that,” Rudd said.

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