President Obama's International Travel

Has anyone noticed that President Obama has drastically reduced his international travel? His first year in office he was by far the most internationally traveled president in history, going on 10 separate trips to 21 different trips, to 31 cities (Copenhagen twice) along with a side trip to Africa.

Then in 2010 he went on 3 transoceanic civilian trips, 1 trip to Canada, and 2 times to Afghanistan for a military visit. Although his Asian trip was a very high profile ultra-expensive extravaganza.

Finally in 2011 he went on the obligatory 4 day trip to South America, but it was limited to Chile and Brazil. He stopped at El Salvador on the way home. He made a trip to France for the G8 Summit. He stopped in Ireland to visit a tiny town that his ancestor came from, and a quick trip to Buckingham Palace which seemed to be purely to make up for not being invited to the Royal wedding.


President Obama will be going to Cannes France for the G20 summit in 2 weeks, but I haven't heard that he will take advantage of the trip to visit other places in Europe.


In general he now has traveled less than either President's Clinton or Bush. Both former presidents made two lengthy trips apiece to Africa. You would think that Obama would go to Kenya as president.

Obama made only 2 trips to Mexico 2 trips to Canada. For Canada he made the customary new president first international trip (only an afternoon), and a second trip for the G8/G20 summits.

The number of obligatory summit meetings for head's of state seems to be increasing. From G-8, G-20, NATO, APEC, North American Leaders' Summit . The cost of flying the president overseas, and in particular to someplace other than Europe is astronomical.

We certainly have strong images of our Presidents overseas. Kennedy & Reagan in Berlin, Reagan speaking to Parliament and riding horses around Windsor Park with the Queen. Not surprisingly with the introduction of the modified 747's and international travel becoming more commonplace, the images are less vivid. It seemed as if Clinton (like any cheating husband) wanted to go to a State Dinner after the mess with Monica.

What do you think? Is the day of the famous presidential international visit over? Will Obama avoid the Presidential Grand Tour or will he wait and see if he is elected a second time?

In general a presidential trip is unbelievably expensive, since it requires a huge number of support planes, and sometimes well over a thousand people. Does it enhance the vision of America to the world? Do you think he should go to Greece?

He should go to Canada to see how a national healthcare system should be designed!

Quote: s2dbaker

He should go to Canada to see how a national healthcare system should be designed!

He could save taxpayer money by just reading the Constitution. Ours, that is.

Quote: s2dbaker

He should go to Canada to see how a national healthcare system should be designed!

You mean the fee-for-service one that lets dogs and cats get fast MRI service? He surely doesn't want to see the one that lowers costs by driving people to the USA for care because they do not want to die waiting for simple procedures.

Quote: pacomartin

What do you think? Is the day of the famous presidential international visit over? Will Obama avoid the Presidential Grand Tour or will he wait and see if he is elected a second time?

Over? No way. Despite all the "we hate America" stuff you hear, most countries go all-out for a POTUS visit. For a small country it will be talked about for generations. It is a weird relationship. As Americans we may wonder why they even care. To them it is as if you saw Frank or Dean in the Sands back in the day and they actually took a minute even to ask you the time.

Quote:

In general a presidential trip is unbelievably expensive, since it requires a huge number of support planes, and sometimes well over a thousand people. Does it enhance the vision of America to the world? Do you think he should go to Greece?

I think it does. Not just so much because the POTUS came, but when all that support acts in a professional manner people see Americans are not as bad as they were led to believe.

I haven't paid attention to any POTUS's international travel, but would someone please tell this guy to stop visiting Pittsburgh? In three years I have had traffic tied up three times and sniper rifles pointed at me twice. Maybe if the PA Legislature splits the electoral votes as proposed he will visit some other swing state.

Quote: AZDuffman

I haven't paid attention to any POTUS's international travel, but would someone please tell this guy to stop visiting Pittsburgh? In three years I have had traffic tied up three times and sniper rifles pointed at me twice. Maybe if the PA Legislature splits the electoral votes as proposed he will visit some other swing state.

The International Presidential visits have been very brief this year. The visit to ancestral homeland of Obama's ancestor in Ireland mirrors the two highly successful previous visits of presidents to ancestral homes in Ireland.
June, 1963 John F Kennedy
June, 1984. Ronald Reagan
------------------------

19-Mar-2011 - Brasília and Rio de Janeiro: Met with President Dilma Rousseff. Visited the Cidade de Deus favela and the Christ the Redeemer statue.
21 Mar-2011 - Santiago: Met with President Sebastián Piñera of Chile
22 Mar-2011 - San Salvador: Met with President Mauricio Funes of El Salvador. Visited the San Salvador Cathedral.

23-May-2011 - Dublin, Moneygall Had meetings with President Mary McAleese of Ireland. Visited ancestral home in Moneygall, and addressed a large crowd in Dublin.
23-May-2011 - London, State visit, accompanied by the First Lady. Met with Prince William and his wife.
26-May-2011 - Deauville , France for 37th G8 summit
27-May-2011 - Warsaw, Met with President Bronisław Komorowski of Poland. Laid wreath at the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial and visited the memorial to the victims of the Smolensk plane crash.

It doesn't look like President Obama will add much to his visit to France in two weeks for the G20 summit, but he will be in Australia from November 16-17 after hosting the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in his home state of Hawaii and will then travel to Bali for an East Asia, Summit.

====================
Dividing the PA electoral vote is about as likely to happen as the snowball in heck. The PA, OH, IN trio will probably determine the presidential election in 2012, so I think you should be prepared for the lions share of the multi billion dollar advertising campaign.

Also since the Republicans will most likely eliminate the 12th PA congressional district, the fight for the House in Western PA should be bruising as well.

Quote: pacomartin

Dividing the PA electoral vote is about as likely to happen as the snowball in heck. The PA, OH, IN trio will probably determine the presidential election in 2012, so I think you should be prepared for the lions share of the multi billion dollar advertising campaign.

It is purely ploitical but has support by Gov and Legislature. If nothing else if it fails it hopefully derails all these end-run around the electoral college schemes where the states throw their support to the national winner.

Quote: AZDuffman

If nothing else if it fails it hopefully derails all these end-run around the electoral college schemes where the states throw their support to the national winner.

The idea of a national election will never fly, but there is nothing unconstitutional about coalitions. For instance a proposed foundry coalition might consist of the four battleground states with broadly similar makeup. In the 2010 census their cumulative population was 20% higher than CA, but by 2016 it should be about the same.

A winner take all for these four states would give them a clout equal to one of the "Big 4". The only one of the "Big 4" to have been in contention for a while has been Florida.

Foundry Coalition
Indiana
Michigan
Ohio
Pennsylvania

If he goes anyplace, a visit to Iraq or better, Afghanistan would be appropriate. I don't know about Libya, maybe a victory lap there?

I suspected his early globe hopping was to give his daughters the "Grand Tour" before they had to start at a new school with kids who were already experienced world travelers.

Duplicate Post

Quote: AZDuffman

You mean the fee-for-service one that lets dogs and cats get fast MRI service? He surely doesn't want to see the one that lowers costs by driving people to the USA for care because they do not want to die waiting for simple procedures.

No, that doesn't exist except in right wing fantasyland. I'd rather see Obama go to Canada where socialized medicine works.

Summit of the Americas will be April 14th 2012. There is a high possibility that the Republican candidate will be chosen by this time, or April 24th at the latest.

Although President Obama went to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador in March of 2011, thie Summit of the Americas will be right at the start of his serious campaign for re-election. The summit will be followed on June 18-19th, 2012 in Los Cabos by the G20 in Mexico.

I don't think the President will be making a high profile trip to Asia this year. He's already done three trips to Asia. And he's been to Europe 7 times so they are starting to look a little like boondoggles. I am a little surprised that he has only made it to Africa for one day, but I doubt that he will go now until after the election (no matter which way it goes).

So I think the Latin American trips are going to be his centerpiece for international travel. At over 50 million in the USA, the Latino population could swing a tight election.

President Obama has been going on more International Trips than either Presidents Bush or Clinton (in their first term), but he has made fewer country stops. On about half his trips he only goes to 1 or 2 countries.

President Bush made three international trips between Jan-Nov of his election year

• January-2004:
  Attended the Monterrey Special Summit of the Americas. (precursor to this weekend's summit
• Early June 2004:
  60th anniversary of D-Day. Vatican (John Paul II)
• Late June 2004:
  Ireland for U.S.-EU Summit meeting
  Turkey Met with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and attended NATO Summit meeting in Istanbul.
  
  
  So far President Obama has only made one
• March-2012:
  Seoul 2012 Nuclear Security Summit: follow up to 2010 Nuclear Security Summit held in April 2010, Washington DC.
  Met with China's Hu Jintao. Visited the demilitarized zone
  
  
  So this summit is likely to be a star studded event, as Colombian entertainers like Shakira, and Sofia Vergara are invited home to lend some sex appeal to the meeting. This may be President Obama's big election year chance to capture the hearts of the critical Latino vote.
  
  The Trivia questions are pretty hard. Kudos to anyone who can do these.
  OAS = organization of American States
  
  
  

  10-Apr-12	Can you name the most populous capital in the Americas and where it is located?
  9-Apr-12	Which country's currency is named after its national bird?
  5-Apr-12	Can you name the world's highest waterfall and where it is located?
  4-Apr-12	Which country in the Americas widely speaks an indigenous language that is also the name of its currency?
  3-Apr-12	Which Head of State led his country to enter the Guinness World Records with the longest reading marathon on April 2, 2012?
  2-Apr-12	Which is the largest country by area in Central America?
  30-Mar-12	Which Head of State was a former musician before embarking on a political career?
  29-Mar-12	Which Head of State was director of Global Bank and Direct TV before assuming office?
  28-Mar-12	Which city in Colombia was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984?
  27-Mar-12	Which current Head of Government of the Americas was the world’s youngest elected leader when he took office?
  26-Mar-12	Which Head of State is a floriculturist by profession?
  23-Mar-12	Can you name the highest capital in the world?
  22-Mar-12	Can you name the 14 OAS Member States that are also members of CARICOM?
  21-Mar-12	Which Head of State has worked on judicial reform and police reform issues for the UNDP and IDB respectively?
  20-Mar-12	Which OAS Member State has the oldest national legislative body?
  19-Mar-12	Which Head of State used to be an investigative journalist and correspondent for CNN?
  16-Mar-12	Which Head of Goverment has performed a Beatles song with world-class cellist Yo-Yo Ma?
  15-Mar-12	Who is the most recently elected female Head of Government in the Americas?
  14-Mar-12	Which Head of State of the Americas has a PhD in economics from Harvard University?
  13-Mar-12	Which Head of State of the Americas previously served as Minister of Foreign Trade, Minister of Finance, and Minister of National Defense?
  12-Mar-12	Which Head of State of the Americas has the most followers on Twitter?
  9-Mar-12	Which is the only Dutch-speaking OAS Member State and who is their Head of State?
  8-Mar-12	Who was the first female Head of State to open the UN General Assembly?
  7-Mar-12	Can you name the five female Heads of State and Government in the Americas?

Quote: pacomartin

This may be President Obama's big election year chance to capture the hearts of the critical Latino vote.

Not the larger numbers of illegals, most of them from Latin America, his governmetn has managed to deport?

Those are hard, and The Americas isn't my strong suit, but I'll give it a shot.

10-Apr: Mexico City.
9-Apr: Bolivia, named after the Condor, I believe.
5-Apr: Angel Falls, Venezuela.
4-Apr: Don't know.
3-Apr: Guess Raul Castro.
2-Apr: Nicaraugua.
30-Mar: Don't know.
29-Apr: Felipe Calderon?
28-Mar: I think maybe Popayán .
27-Mar: Don't know.
26-Mar: Don't know.
23-Mar: La Paz, Bolivia.
22-Mar: Not even going to try.
21-Mar: Don't know.
20-Mar: Brazil
19-Mar: Cristinia Kirchner?
16-Mar: Don't know.
15-Mar: Don't know, Kirchner?
Don't know any of the rest.
9-Mar: Suriname, don't know head of state.

Too many questions about heads of state.

Quote: teddys

Those are hard, and The Americas isn't my strong suit, but I'll give it a shot. Too many questions about heads of state.

Excellent try Teddy. (I haven't looked up the answers myself). Stripping out the HOS questions:

10-Apr-12	Can you name the most populous capital in the Americas and where it is located?
9-Apr-12	Which country's currency is named after its national bird?
5-Apr-12	Can you name the world's highest waterfall and where it is located?
4-Apr-12	Which country in the Americas widely speaks an indigenous language that is also the name of its currency?
2-Apr-12	Which is the largest country by area in Central America?
28-Mar-12	Which city in Colombia was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984?
23-Mar-12	Can you name the highest capital in the world?
22-Mar-12	Can you name the 14 OAS Member States that are also members of CARICOM?
20-Mar-12	Which OAS Member State has the oldest national legislative body?
9-Mar-12	Which is the only Dutch-speaking OAS Member State and who is their Head of State?

Teddy's guesses
10-Apr: Mexico City.
9-Apr: Bolivia, named after the Condor, I believe.
5-Apr: Angel Falls, Venezuela.
4-Apr: Don't know.
2-Apr: Nicaraugua.
28-Mar: I think maybe Popayán .
23-Mar: La Paz, Bolivia.
22-Mar: Not even going to try.
20-Mar: Brazil
9-Mar: Suriname, don't know head of state.

Which country in the Americas widely speaks an indigenous language that is also the name of its currency? My guess is the Quetzal from Guatemala.

Which OAS Member State has the oldest national legislative body? I would guess Mexico because they were the first to declare independence.

Can you name the 14 OAS Member States that are also members of CARICOM?
1) Trinidad and Tobago
2) Bahamas
3) Grenada
4) Barbados
5) St Kitts and Nevis
6) Antigua and Barbuda
7) Dominican Republic
8) Haiti
9) Columbia
10) Venezuela
11) Belize
12) Costa Rica
13) Panama
14) Guatemala

Quote: pacomartin

Which OAS Member State has the oldest national legislative body? I would guess Mexico because they were the first to declare independence.

Haiti went first, if memory serves.

Aside from that, while Mexico declared Independence in 1810, since then there were several changes of constitutions, one invasion, a revolution/civil war and other assorted civil wars. I would say the legilsature doesn't date from before 1917, the date of the latest constitution.

I looked up the answers. You are right about Quetzal/Guatemala for the bird/currency question. Good one.

The language/currency is also gettable. I should have know that. Hint: The country is in South America.

Oldest legislature: both of us were way off. You'll never get it. Hint: It's in the Carribean.

Almost perfect on the CARICOM members.

Quote: Nareed

Haiti went first, if memory serves.

Mea Culpa. You are absolutely correct.

Napoleon's takeover of France inspired Haiti's slaves to declare independence. His later invasion of Spain inspired the independence movement in the Spanish colonies.

The Summit begins

Hopefully the President will pay more attention to the camera for the photo then he did three years ago at the last summit.

Nice pic. I'm ashamed to say I can't identify most of the heads of state. I recognize Lula, front and center, next to Evo Morales of Bolivia, who seems to be wearing traditional garb. Harper, Obama, and Chavez grinning in the back right are the only other ones I know.

I don't even know what Pippo Calderon looks like. (Do people call him that?)

Heads of State and Government / Jefes de Estado y de Gobierno

United States of America
Barack Hussein Obama II
President

Canada
Stephen Joseph Harper
Prime Minister

México
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa
Presidente

Brasil
Dilma Vana Rousseff
Presidente

---------------------

Antigua and Barbuda
Winston Baldwin Spencer
Prime Minister

Argentina
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Presidente

Bahamas (Commonwealth of)
Hubert Alexander Ingraham
Prime Minister

Barbados
Freundel Jerome Stuart
Prime Minister

Belize
Dean Oliver Barrow
Prime Minister

Bolivia
Juan Evo Morales Ayma
Presidente Brasil
Dilma Vana Rousseff
Presidente

Chile
Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique
Presidente

Colombia
Juan Manuel Santos Calderón
Presidente

Costa Rica
Laura Chinchilla Miranda
Presidente

Dominica (Commonwealth of)
Roosevelt Skerrit
Prime Minister

Ecuador
Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado
Presidente

El Salvador
Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena
Presidente

Grenada
Tillman Joseph Thomas
Prime Minister

Guatemala
Otto Pérez Molina
Presidente

Guyana
Donald Ramotar
President

Haiti
Michel Joseph Martelly
President

Honduras
Porfirio Lobo Sosa
Presidente

Jamaica
Portia Simpson Miller
Prime Minister

Nicaragua
José Daniel Ortega Saavedra
Presidente

Panamá
Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Berrocal
Presidente

Paraguay
Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez
Presidente

Perú
Ollanta Moisés Humala Tasso
Presidente República

Dominicana
Leonel Fernández
Presidente

Saint Kitts and Nevis
Denzil Llewellyn Douglas
Prime Minister

Saint Lucia
Kenny Davis Anthony
Prime Minister

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Ralph Everard Gonsalves
Prime Minister

Suriname
Desiré Delano Bouterse
President

Trinidad and Tobago
Kamla Persad‐Bissessar
Prime Minister

Uruguay
José Alberto Mujica Cordano
Presidente

Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías
Presidente





Fifth Summit of the Americas: - Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago : Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago April 17 - 19, 2009
Fourth Summit of the Americas : Mar del Plata, Argentina November 4 - 5, 2005
Special Summit of the Americas : Monterrey, México January 12 - 13, 2004
Third Summit of the Americas : Quebec City, Canada April 20 - 22, 2001
Second Summit of the Americas : Santiago de Chile, Chile April 18 - 19, 1998
Summit on Sustainable Development : Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia December 7 - 8, 1996
First Summit of the Americas : Miami, Florida, USA December 9 - 11, 1994

I'm surprised Costa Rica elected a small, furry rodent as their president:

Of course, we could have done the same thing if we elected Rick Santorum. Zing!

Quote: teddys

I'm surprised Costa Rica elected a small, furry rodent as their president:

She's a nice looking woman.


It's hard not to look at her without thinking of another Latina politician



Still, if you have to be named after a rodent, they sure are cute

The animal (whose name literally means "little chincha") is named after the Chincha people of the Andes, who once wore its dense, velvet-like fur.
-wikipedia

Paco, I always find your charts are graphs to be informative and accurate.
Why is the Head of State and Government of FREEDONIA not represtened ?

Here are the 5 women.

Clockwise from top left:
Cristina Kirchner, Argentina.
Dilma Rousseff, Brazil. (Of Bulgarian ancestry).
Laura Chinchilla, Costa Rica.
Portia Simpson-Miller, Jamaica.
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Trinidad & Tobago. (Of Indian descent).

The two largest and most powerful countries in South America are run by women. Kirchner is legitimately good-looking. I'll take any of them over Angela Merkel, former President of Germany current Chancellor of Germany (doh!):

Merkel has NEVER been President of Germany. She is the current Chancellor of Germany.


P.S I like Christina Kirschner of Argentina !

Quote: pacomartin

We certainly have strong images of our Presidents overseas.

To complete that image, is it possible that the zones on the map are the designated red light zones for the $47 prostitutes and is the "luxurious" Hotel Caribe in one of them? The resolution, even in blow-up, is just too fuzzy.

Quote: SanchoPanza

To complete that image, is it possible that the zones on the map are the designated red light zones for the $47 prostitutes and is the "luxurious" Hotel Caribe in one of them? The resolution, even in blow-up, is just too fuzzy.

I spent a few days in the city of Cartegena Colombia 38 years ago. I staid in decent hotels. I wonder if that was where I stayed in Cartegena?

Sticking with the summit of the Americas them, I checked the revised census bureau statements on Latin America.

The following 6 major Spanish speaking nations now have fertility rate equal to or below the USA
1.45 Cuba 11,075,244
1.87 Chile 17,028,743
1.87 Uruguay 3,316,328
1.92 Costa Rica 4,636,348
2.04 El Salvador 6,090,646
2.06 Paraguay 6,541,591
1.72 Trinidad and Tobago 1,226,383 (some Spanish influence)

Within 5 years, two more Spanish speaking nations will drop their fertility rate below the USA
1.89 Nicaragua 6,025,951
2.00 Colombia 47,698,524

In 20 years nearly all the countries in the Western Hemisphere will have fertility rates below the USA. The 7 exceptions are
Venezuela
Dominican Republic
Haiti
Bolivia
Honduras
Guatemala
Belize

Birth rates will remain high for the next generation, because even though the fertility rate goes down, it takes a while for the population to get older.


However, freed from the burden of caring for an exploding population, Latin America will be free to grow economically. There may even be the day when portions of Latin America develops economies that are richer than much of the USA.

Keep in mind that Ireland was one of the poor countries in Western Europe, until it exploded economically and became one of the wealthiest. Many people have pointed out that Ireland was better suited for the post industrial world, because having skipped the industrial revolution, it didn't have the clean up problem left by aging manufacturing centers (like in England).

Quote: pacomartin

However, freed from the burden of caring for an exploding population, Latin America will be free to grow economically. There may even be the day when portions of Latin America develops economies that are richer than much of the USA.

Latin America is the worlds largest growing market. I just got done w a decade in Big Pharma HR and in the last 8 years a huge effort has been made in corp America to recruit Latin American executives. In a short amount of time Latin Americas buying power will surpass America if it has not already.

Quote: Wavy70

Latin America is the worlds largest growing market. I just got done w a decade in Big Pharma HR and in the last 8 years a huge effort has been made in corp America to recruit Latin American executives. In a short amount of time Latin Americas buying power will surpass America if it has not already.

I assume you mean collective buying power (not per person). Brazil & Mexico combined have slightly more people than the USA, while the rest of Latin America has a population in the high 200 millions (depending on which countries you include like French Creole speaking Haiti).

Now that the major countries have reasonable fertility rates, population growth will not as easily outstrip capacity to expand.

But presently the GDP of Latin America is about a 1/3 of that of the USA (using the Atlas Method favored by the World Bank which uses a three-year average of exchange rates).

But the self identified Latino population of the USA is also larger than any single country in Latin America (except Mexico and Brazil).