from Politico.com
11/12/2009
From CBS News’ Mark Knoller:
“Even before President Obama sets foot on Air Force One [this morning] to begin a 9-day trip to Asia, he has traveled to more countries in his first year in office than any of his predecessors. Since taking office, he has made 7 foreign trips and visited 16 countries, 3 of them twice. The Asia trip — which takes him to Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea — will bring his total to 8 foreign trips and 20 countries.
“The only other president to come close to Mr. Obama’s first-year-in-office globe-trotting numbers is President George H. W. Bush, who took 7 foreign trips to 14 countries. His son traveled abroad five times to 11 countries during his first year. President Clinton only did 2 foreign trips to 3 nations in 1993. Foreign travel by American presidents is a relatively new practice. No sitting U.S. president left the country until Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. He made a single foreign outing: a 3-day visit to Panama in November of that year to inspect construction of the Panama Canal.”
Read more in Mike Allen’s Playbook.
