On March 19, President Obama will take off on his first foreign trip of 2011, a five-day Latin American excursion to Brazil, El Salvador and Chile.
Or he won’t.
Once again, politics at home is threatening Mr. Obama’s freedom to travel abroad as the two-week budget extension passed by the House on Tuesday appears likely to expire — on March 18.
It’s possible that Congress will have agreed to another two-week extension by then, giving Mr. Obama a window of opportunity for global diplomacy without worry. But the history of this White House would suggest otherwise.
On several occasions, Mr. Obama’s planned trips have been delayed, altered, shifted, shrunk and even canceled altogether as domestic politics forced him to stay at home.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/showdown-with-congress-could-stall-obama-travel-again/?partner=rss&emc=rss ---------------------
Could be another case of "oops, change of plans" (again)