Posted on 02/02/2011 1:00:08 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
WASHINGTON: American First Lady Michelle Obama wants to visit India again, this time with her daughters Malia and Sasha, President Obama told India's national security advisor Shivshankar Menon when he dropped in on Menon's meeting with his US counterpart Tom Donilon at the White House last week. There was more to the remark than politeness.
As if to emphasize he was not saying it for form's sake, Obama reportedly added that the First Lady is a "very determined" woman and she usually has her way. The Obama children did not make it to India during their parents' visit last November because the Obamas did not want them to miss school during a four-country trip starting in India that would have kept them away for two weeks.
Obama stopped by at the Menon-Donilon meeting to convey his thanks to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh through Menon for the India visit he had in November, besides spending some time reviewing US-India ties.
The gesture, which came on a day when Egypt was aflame, and at a time when Washington's Af-Pak strategy and its ties with a host of key countries are shaky, pointed to the fact that the Obama administration, like its predecessor Bush White House, has set a lot in store for US-India ties.
It is one of more stable and promising relationships in the current American diplomatic catalog that is starting to look messy and complicated.
Following the meeting, the White House issued a statement saying Menon and Donilon "discussed ways to advance our bilateral agenda over the coming year...as well as building new platforms for collaboration that fulfill the promise of our global strategic partnership." President Obama, it said, joined the meeting and "reaffirmed his commitment to building a true global, strategic partnership with India, including advancing our bilateral economic relationship and making progress on nuclear security efforts."
The statements may sound anodyne, but there is plenty of action on the cards on the bilateral front in the coming weeks even though the weather is right now brutal in the US, and summer is months away.
Undeterred by Menon's weather-wrecked visit, when a snowstorm caused him to miss a dinner Hillary Clinton hosted for him (and which she graciously turned into lunch the next day), external affairs minister SM Krishna may be coming to New York next week to participate in sittings of the United Nations Security Council, where India now has a term seat. The US has indicated clearly that its support for India for a permanent seat is contingent on how well New Delhi works with it on common objectives.
Although Washington is not on Krishna's schedule, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao will visit here on February 13-15 to follow up Menon's visit and also for preparations for the US-India strategic dialogue in April.
Hillary Clinton will visit India in April for the second round of the dialogue that kicked off in Washington last year. She'll be preceded by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who will be in India next week, and secretary of homeland security Janet Napolitano, sometime later.
Somewhere in this flurry of exchanges, the US Air Chief will also visit India next week, mainly for the Aero India show in Bangalore, and the Indian Army chief VK Singh will visit US from March 7-13. There's also a Defense Policy Groups meeting scheduled for March.
So while many of the American spheres of influence are going through a winter of discontent, there appears to be a spring in US-India ties.
As if to emphasize he was not saying it for form’s sake, Obama reportedly added that the First Lady is a “very determined” woman and she usually has her way. The Obama children did not make it to India during their parents’ visit last November because the Obamas did not want them to miss school during a four-country trip starting in India that would have kept them away for two weeks.
Can we do the trip, but make it one way?
Another couple of million bucks down the drain.
These Marxist tugs know no bounds for impropriety.
Mooch demands a much needed vacation, it’s been a whole month since her last taxpayer-funded vacation in Hawaii.
Whatever MOOCHELLE wants, MOOCHELLE gets....ON OUR DOLLAR!!
The Grifter Family Supreme (aka the nobama family) know no shame and have no respect for Americans who support their equal-opportunity lives. the Mooch (aka mooch-elle “I am a loser in life”) and her creepy spouse hate America and hate Americans. We are serfs to them who must bend way over and take it smiling. I can’t wait for history to describe them as the destructive malignant frauds and losers they are.
Ah, just like Marie Antoinette, and hubby is quite like Louis XVI.
She has more shopping to do.
A couple of million would be on a budget.
A couple of million would be on a budget.
Yeah! Why not??
WE are paying for it.
“A couple of million would be on a budget.”
Oh, that’s just for the ice cream.
As long as she takes Zero with her, I’ll chip in a $1.50 just to get him out of the US for a few days.
Yeah, I know, my tax dollar contribution for their jaunts are more than that but you get my drift.
May your analogy reach the identical outcome.
Maybe she’ll stay there.
Excuse me,General,can you get me another snow cone!
..... Obama reportedly added that the First Lady is a "very determined" woman and she usually has her way
.....The Obama children did not make it to India ...last November because the Obamas did not want them to miss school.
It's all about THEM.
Truly disgusting. Obama does not seem to have any idea how this sounds to the public. He is totally arrogant.
“He is totally arrogant.”
True, but he’s also clueless. This article (correctly IMHO) makes him sound like a weenie who is pussy-whipped by his wife. How he or any of his supporters expect him to command any respect from our enemies (particularly those in the ME who don’t have a high opinion of women in the first place) is beyond me. The guy can be (and is) kicked around on the world stage. He’s certainly not “leading” the world in the way that many past presidents have. We used to be admired/looked up to. Now many world leaders and their flocks are wondering how we could be gullible enough to elect this bozo.
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