Health care imbroglio delays Obama Pacific trip

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WASHINGTON, Mar 13 (AFP): The fierce and fateful battle over health care reform has forced President Barack Obama to delay his departure on a trip to Indonesia and Australia by three days, to March 21.
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs made the announcement on his Twitter feed Friday, a day after saying the trip would not be postponed, reflecting the fast-shifting debate on an issue testing the president's political credibility.
Gibbs also said Obama's wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha would no longer join the president on a poignant journey to Indonesia, where he lived as a boy for four years with his mother.
In his daily briefing, Gibbs was repeatedly pressed on whether the president's threatened effort to pass health care reform could further delay the visit to Asia but he refused to budge.
"The president is going on a trip on the 21st," Gibbs said repeatedly.
The trip now figures to be an even faster sprint through Indonesia and Australia than previously scheduled, though the White House says it must go on as both nations are vital to Obama's bid to revive US Asia-Pacific policy.
Obama has billed himself as America's first "Pacific president" and his journey had been timed to coincide with his daughters' school's spring break to allow the president to take his family.
The fact he must leave his wife and daughters at home may take the gloss off the trip for Obama and disappoint his hosts.