By CAROL E. LEE,Politico
Obama is working as hard as he can to grab those last few votes
President Barack Obama again postponed his trip to Indonesia and Australia,this time putting it off until June so that he can be in Washington as Democrats in Congress try to pass a health care reform bill,White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced Thursday.
Obama had already delayed his trip once and was planning to leave Sunday,but the House health care vote now is expected Sunday as well. Gibbs said the president didn’t want to risk having to cancel at the last minute.
"Passage of health care reform is of paramount importance,and the president is determined to see this battle through,"Gibbs said during the daily press briefing. "The president believes right now the place for him is to be in Washington to see this through."
Postponing a presidential trip overseas is a dramatic step,and the move — decided on by Obama at 9:45 a.m. Thursday,official said — speaks to the importance health reform has taken on for the president. A trip overseas at such a critical moment could have left him somewhat out of the picture at what could prove to be a signature moment of his presidency,if the House can pass reform this weekend as Democratic leaders expect.
Gibbs insisted that the delay in the trip didn’t mean trouble for the House passing reform. “The president still believes we will have the votes,” he said.