Petty controversy: Is Obama fleeing the country?

Obama is planning a 12-day trip to India immediately following the midterm elections.

(Image credit: CC BY: The White House)

last updated 8 January 2015

The controversy: After moving up a scheduled trip to India next month, President Obama will be leaving for Mumbai on November 4, just two days after the midterm election — which at least one blogger has interpreted as "more evidence Obama knows there will be a Democratic bloodbath at the polls." Obama, says Thomas Lifson at The American Thinker, clearly wants to "get out of Dodge" to avoid "recriminations." Obama will also visit Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea during the 12-day trip, one of the longest tours in his presidency so far. (Get updated poll results on Congressional races.)

The reaction: Where's "the most dangerous place to be standing just after the November election"? asks Doug Powers at MichelleMalkin.com. "Between President Obama and the nation's emergency exit doorway." The president is getting out of the country as soon as the polls are closed. Actually, bringing the trip forward means that Obama will be in India for the celebrations on Diwali night, says Chidanand Rajghatta at The Times of India. Fans of "better India-U.S. ties" ought to "save some of those firecrackers" for Obama's arrival.