Here’s Obama’s “smart power” in action
(Japan Today) When President Barack Obama travels abroad, sometimes it’s not enough for just the leader of the free world to show up. People in other countries want the first lady, too.
But Michelle Obama won’t join her husband when he heads to Asia next week, and her absence is likely to sting, especially in image-conscious Japan. It’s the first of four countries on Obama’s travel schedule and one of two that are welcoming him with official state visits.
“If Mrs Obama could have come, it would have been better. But the most important thing is that President Obama accepted this is a state visit,†said Matake Kamiya, a professor of international relations at the National Defense University in Yokosuka, near Tokyo. “From an expert point of view, it’s sort of worrisome why Mrs Obama isn’t coming.â€
The fact that Mrs Obama recently spent a week in China with her mother, Marian Robinson, and daughters Malia and Sasha is sure to be noted in Japan, a close U.S. ally and China rival. But the first lady’s communications director, Maria Cristina Gonzalez Noguera, said it was not expected that Mrs Obama would join the president on a return trip to Asia so soon.
Her taking a big taxpayer funded vacation, er, cultural exchange trip to China then blowing off Japan will surely not sit well as Obama attempt to make some inroads in a region he has laregly ignored during his time in office. I think most can understand the need for her to stay home with the kids, but when people get into politics, and especially run for POTUS, they understand that there are certain duties, and one of them is that spouces should be on big trips like this.
