Obama In Asia

The President spent the week of May 27 in Asia, and got quite a bit done.  He first went to Southeast Asia to promote trade with the US, and in the process announced that he would lift the arms embargo against Vietnam.  By Thursday he had gone to Japan for the G-7 summit in Ise, Mie Prefecture and on Friday made a side-trip to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, becoming the first American President to visit Hiroshima.  Lifting the arms embargo is a big, but the visit to Hiroshima is easily the bigger story.  Or the more dramatic one, at least.  There is a lot to say about both legs of the trip, but they connect through the President’s policies.  Obama has always accepted the wisdom that the 21^st century will be “the Asian Century;” due to the continuing improvements in the standards of living around East and Southern Asia, and the increasing economic importance of the continent to the rest of us.  This trip, which I believe will be his last to Asia as POTUS, makes for the perfect finale.