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Obama Delays Asia Trip to Continue Health Care Push

   VOA News 12 March 2010

   The  White  House  says President Barack Obama is delaying an upcoming
   trip  to  Asia by three days, as he makes a final push for health care
   reform legislation.

   White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says Mr. Obama will now leave March
   21,  instead of March 18, for Indonesia and Australia.  Gibbs says Mr.
   Obama's  wife and two daughters will not be on the trip, as previously
   planned.
   Mr.  Obama  has  been  pressing Congress to pass health care reform, a
   major priority of his administration.
   Gibbs  has  said  the  upcoming  trip  to  Indonesia, the world's most
   populous Muslim country, is meant to be a step in furthering relations
   with  the  Islamic  world.   He  told reporters Thursday the trip will
   build on a speech Mr. Obama made to Muslims last year in Cairo.
   Mr.  Obama  lived  in Indonesia for four years as a youth.  His mother
   had  married  an  Indonesian  man  after  divorcing Mr. Obama's Kenyan
   father.
   After  Indonesia,  Mr.  Obama is scheduled to visit Australia, a trade
   partner  of  the  U.S.  which  has  contributed support for the war in
   Afghanistan.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP.

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