The Obamas Kick off their First State Visit, Welcome India’s Prime Minister to the White House
EmailABC News' Sunlen Miller reports: At the welcome ceremony for the first official state visit of his presidency, President Obama told India’s Prime Minister today that “it is fitting that you and India be so recognized.” In a scaled down ceremony, moved from the South Lawn to the East Room due to rain, the First Couple welcomed Prime Minister Singh of India and his wife, Gursharan Kaur, to the White House. “This visit reflects the high esteem in which I and the American people hold your wise leadership,” Mr. Obama said. “It reflects the abiding bonds of respect and friendship between our people, including our friends in the Indian-American community who join us here today.” Surrounded by members of the Indian delegation, the U.S. delegation and visitors crammed into the East Room holding both tiny U.S. and Indian flags together. First Lady Michelle Obama stood side-by-side in an orange textured coat with her Indian counterpart, looking on to their husbands at the podium. The president said that as their two nations work toward a better future “India is indispensable,” and he said the two leaders can work together to strengthen the economy, promote trade, combat climate change, end extreme poverty, and prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. “As people who've known the pain and anguish of terrorism, we can stand together,” President Obama said, “cooperating to prevent future attacks and promote the development and prosperity that undermines violent extremism.” The president added that as the world largest democracies the U.S. and India can “keep faith with our common values: speaking out and standing up for the rights and dignity to which all human beings are entitled, and showing that nations that respect the rights and aspirations of their people are ultimately more stable, more secure and more successful.” Mr. Obama noted that it was 60 years ago that President Truman welcomed to the White House the first prime minister of an independent India. “While the decades that followed were not without their challenges, the spirit of that first visit is with us today: the same sense of possibility, the same hope for the future,” he said. Prime Minister Singh said he brings to the United States the “friendly greetings of our 1 billion people of India,” as he comes to the White House today to, “broaden and deepen our strategic partnership.” The two leaders will spend the morning behind closed doors in a series of one-on-one and extended meetings with their broader delegations. -Sunlen Miller
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Any bets on what gaffe the protocol staff will do?
I’ll put $10 on serving beef.
Posted by: Huh? | November 24, 2009, 10:38 am 10:38 am
I am pleased to see America taking an interest in good relations with India. While cozying up to Pakistan for dubious help against Al Quaida, it is important to remember that India is the vibrant, diverse, capitalist giant who actually deserves our goodwill.
Posted by: jhw539 | November 24, 2009, 11:21 am 11:21 am
Well, I think that it is fine to welcome The Prime Minister and his wife, and to have talks that are to the mutual benefit of both countries.
Yet, India has been one of the countries other than China, that American jobs have been outsourced to, and so, I would hope that such outsourcing will be reduced, and not increased.
It is time for America to return to home-grown jobs and manufacturing, and to stop making other countries richer at our expense.
It is time for the American President, to take a stand on American jobs, and take action to assure that we return to a path of progress, rather than self-destruction.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | November 24, 2009, 11:34 am 11:34 am
India and America have enjoyed sustained good relations through the last two presidencies. Clinton famously vacationed there.
From NYT, Jan 2009:
“This may be my last visit to you during your presidency,” Mr. Singh told Mr. Bush in Washington in September, “and let me say, Thank you very much. The people of India deeply love you.”
I hope President Obama manages to maintain this relationship.
Posted by: MayBee | November 24, 2009, 11:47 am 11:47 am
He goes out of the country bowing to world leaders and comes back plays golf on Saturday, then spends our tax dollars on a big State Dinner so he can thank his Hollywood friends. Does he ever work — wait he likes all the photo ops.
All of this while unemployment grows and soldiers die in Afghanistan because he can’t make a decision (and he wants to spend more dollars we don’t have on a very poor Health Care bill).
Absolutely the worst President since Carter.
Posted by: susie | November 24, 2009, 12:21 pm 12:21 pm
You mean Obama is having a dinner for Oprah and Spielberg and that person from India is showing up too.
Posted by: drjohn | November 24, 2009, 12:24 pm 12:24 pm
I am pleased to see America taking an interest in good relations with India.
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America has had an interest in India, as well as good relations with India.
This is really a matter of Obama choosing to continue them or not, whatever the case will be.
Posted by: MayBee | November 24, 2009, 12:25 pm 12:25 pm
@Susie – no, he is a typical liberal, he does not work. Instead he & the Liberal Mob extort money from those who do honest work, and spends it on himself and his vote-buying schemes.
Tent on the grounds: how very Kenyan.
And, he’s WORSE than Carter!
Posted by: Brian | November 24, 2009, 12:32 pm 12:32 pm
although India has problems (what country doesn’t) the US should make more relations both politically, militarily, and economic with India. Despite some issues (poverty, environmental, radical Muslim minority, etc) India has a good legal and social infrastructure and is accepting of innovation, business, and defense against radical Islam. It is also far more democratic and open than such countries as China. We should be focusing on India even more than China to help the so-called “developing” world join the larger so-called “developed” world.
Posted by: Ed | November 24, 2009, 12:50 pm 12:50 pm
Does he ever work — wait he likes all the photo ops.
__________________________________
You’ve got to be kidding. Does Obama ever stop working? I’m amazed at the stamina. We all know by September of his first term (pre-9/11) Bush had already taken 3 weeks vacation in Texas – and he had almost nothing to deal with compared to Obama.
Posted by: tierra | November 24, 2009, 12:50 pm 12:50 pm
I like India, love Bollywood musicals!
With the economic boom continuing in India, I bet India’s Prime Minister would be interested in ABC reporting on a scandal involving scientists from around the world including some employed by NASA and American colleges with regards to the Global Warming hoax.
Posted by: Krakatoa | November 24, 2009, 1:04 pm 1:04 pm
It is fitting that the leaders of the two biggest democracies acknowledge each other, and work together. There is tremendous opportunity for the U.S. to do business with India which needs lots of our technology and equipment to build the infrastructre and help this country become a developed nation. I feel that Mr Obama sees this opportunity, which will help create more jobs here both in the heavy equipment and military hardware fields. Eventhough I always hear about IT jobs shipped out, think about it the people who ship out these jobs are the capitalist CEO’s doing it to make more profit. And it is a perfect example of how a capatilist economy works. Instead od whining let us get our kids to study hard and become better than the Indian IT professionals so we can create more jobs here. There is no point complaining, and being complacent, rather let us work hard and be the doer’s of the world.
Posted by: Asok peter | November 24, 2009, 1:47 pm 1:47 pm
Indians I know and have worked with were very pro-Obama even though most I knew were here on work permits and could not vote. They liked Clinton and saw Obama in the same light – a welcome change from Bush.
As the economy got worse, they saw the stimulus as a way they could keep finding jobs and working. I warned them that money would not find its way into their wallets. Indians are very pratical people when it comes to these things and expected the money would be spent wisely and right away considering the “emergency” that faced us.
Fast forward to today – most I know have either had to go back to India or have been jobless for months now relying on family and friends for housing and money. Permits have expired and without jobs, they have to leave. They are not allowed to take just any job so in these times it is hard to find work. I feel bad for them but these things happen in a tough economy.
The ones I have been able to stay in contact with have a very different view of Obama now. Just another politician, they say.
Posted by: hunkered down | November 24, 2009, 1:47 pm 1:47 pm
“There is tremendous opportunity for the U.S. to do business with India which needs lots of our technology and equipment to build the infrastructre and help this country become a developed nation.”
One must move cautiously as most Indians I know are very frugal. In many ways, they see “development” as overhead.
In my conversations with Indians I have worked with, they enjoy the freedoms and personality India now has. They do not want to lose that. Financial and IT centers are one thing; adding layers of so called development is another.
A couple of simple examples, their Internet cafes are everywhere and very cheap. Part of that is because they have a very “casual” infrastructure. If you formalize that infrastructure, it costs money and prices rise. Many don’t care that cables are strung every which way. They just want cheap Internet.
Another example, they love the “market” atmosphere (that we used to have) and take personal responsibilty for preparing their food in a clean, safe way. They do not want layers of middle men mass producing and packaging food. Students like to go into the local restaurant and purchase “punch cards” if you will and eat on the cheap. They do not necessarily buy into the “dining” aspect of eating out.
Posted by: hunkered down | November 24, 2009, 2:18 pm 2:18 pm
“Fast forward to today – most I know have either had to go back to India or have been jobless for months now relying on family and friends for housing and money.”
Yup, a neighbor and his family is heading back to India. The shipping container was just dropped off in his driveway yesterday. (His house has been for sale for a few months now, I haven’t heard that it sold.)
I wish him and his family well. He is an electrical engineer. It is America’s loss that he is not staying.
Posted by: Krakatoa | November 24, 2009, 2:21 pm 2:21 pm
Well, digging a DEBT HOLE to sink us, plus the Government Run HC are the two bad things concern me the most.
Bowing to foreign leaders, soft spoken tone in China … I don’t think these issues bother me a lot.
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