A Passage to India
October 23, 2010 / Bruce Stokes
National Journal
As part of his postelection Asia swing in early November, President Obama will visit India, a pivotal geostrategic player in the region and one of the most dynamic markets in the world.
Administration officials are quick to note that Obama is going to India earlier in his presidency than did any of his predecessors and that his stay in India—nearly three days—is longer than the peripatetic Obama has spent in any other nation.
What they don’t mention is that the presidential stopover comes on a holiday weekend for the Indians and is hardly long enough to create the media narrative that Washington and Delhi want to highlight the growing importance of the relationship to both countries. Officials privately acknowledge that the relationship is plagued by what former U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab calls “perpetually unrealized potential.”



