"It really hit him: ‘I’m going back to Jakarta as president'. That's a powerful thing"

[impik]

... Mr. Obama was so focused on India, aides say, that he barely had time to think about his next stop, Indonesia, where he had spent four years as a boy. But aboard Air Force One from New Delhi to Jakarta, he began thinking about the speech he was to deliver, and his childhood memories came flooding back.

“I think it really hit him: ‘I’m going back to Jakarta as president,’ ” said Ben Rhodes, a top foreign policy adviser. “That’s a powerful thing.”

Mr. Rhodes ordinarily writes Mr. Obama’s speeches when the president is overseas, but Mr. Obama wanted a big hand in this one. So he began jotting notes on Air Force One stationery about the sights and sounds of his childhood: the street vendors hawking skewered beef and spicy meatballs, the bicycle rickshaws on unpaved roads, the mango tree in front of the house where he lived with his mother and stepfather. He gave Mr. Rhodes the notes, in his left-handed curlicue scrawl. The adviser could barely read them.

At the state dinner in his honor that night. Mr. Obama — after an elaborate arrival ceremony, a business meeting with the Indonesian president and a joint news conference — struggled to stay awake during the toasts. When the meal was over, he retired to his room at the Shangri-La Hotel and began writing once again.

Presidential trips are always fraught with logistical challenges, but the Indonesia visit was more complex than most. A cloud of volcanic ash was headed toward Jakarta, and most of the reporters on the trip were going to have to leave early — before Mr. Obama delivered the speech. Mr. Rhodes, aware of the time crunch, had promised an advance copy as soon as the president put his pen down. It arrived by e-mail, at 12:30 a.m.

More:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/world/asia/14prexy.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a24

[babylonsister]

1. That is my President. He went the extra mile, spoke Bahasa

Indonesian (from what I've read), and generally wowed them. This was personal, and I'm so glad he had the background and history to make it personal. I think the Indonesians liked it, too.

[Skittles]

2. pretty awesome

as someone who spent years of my childhood in another country (England), I can tell you that country never leaves you

[prolesunited]

3. What I find amazing is that his perspective

as a citizen of the world, not just the U.S., is portrayed as a negative.

[Skittles]

4. bush loved America so much, he never wanted to leave

dontcha know? :o