WASHINGTON
The White House says President Barack Obama’s Indonesia and Australia trip this month is still on, despite speculation he may delay it again, this time over the BP oil spill.
The president had been due to travel to Indonesia, where he spent four years as a child, and Canberra and Sydney in March, but was forced to put the journey off, at a crucial moment of his successful push for health care reform.
The trip was expected to take place in the next few weeks, but the White House is facing questions about whether Obama will choose to stay home and deal with fallout from the worst environmental disaster in US history.
Obama’s political handlers may judge that it would look bad for the president to head abroad while the oil disaster unfolds back home. His deputy spokesman Bill Burton said the trip was still scheduled, but appeared to indicate some discussions may have taken place about cancelling it.
“Well, obviously, there’s a lot of reasons to take the trip,” Burton said aboard Air Force One as Obama headed for a speech on the economy in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
“Regardless of any discussions that might have been had on that, as it stands the trip is still on schedule. ”No official schedule of the visit has yet been released by the White House.
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