US President Barack Obama planted his political flag in Florida on Thursday ahead of the state’s Jan. 31 Republican presidential primary, promising a fresh boost to the economy by making it easier for foreign tourists to travel to the US.
Obama sought his piece of Florida’s political spotlight with a high-profile appearance at Walt Disney World, where he announced initiatives aimed at making it easier for citizens of China and Brazil to visit the US.
“America is open for business,” Obama declared against the backdrop of Disney’s Cinderella’s Castle and picture-perfect blue skies. “We want to welcome you.”
Photo: Reuters
Beyond offering an opportunity to talk about the economy, Obama’s trip to Florida marked an attempt by the White House and his campaign to steal -attention from Republicans vying for the party’s US presidential nomination.
In recent weeks, Obama held a live video conference with Iowa voters during the Republican caucus, US Vice President Joe Biden held a similar event with voters in New Hampshire on the night of the state’s first-in-the-nation primary and next week Obama will travel to Nevada, which follows Florida on the primary calendar.
Obama was greeted in the Orlando area by ads from Republican nomination frontrunner Mitt Romney blaming the president for the state’s struggling economy.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, could take a major step toward securing the Republican nomination with a win in Florida’s Jan. 31 primary contest.
While Obama carried Florida in 2008, the state is a top target for Republicans in the November -elections. Florida twice backed Republican former US president George W. Bush, providing the decisive electoral votes in the cliffhanger 2000 election that was decided after a 36-day recount.
Tourism is a key component to the economy in Florida, which has been battered by 10 percent unemployment and rampant home foreclosures.
The White House said more than 1 million US jobs could be created over the next decade, according to industry projections, if the US increases its share of the international travel market.
The tourism initiative is part of an executive order Obama signed. Its goal is to boost non-immigrant visa processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40 percent this year; expand a Visa-Waiver Program that allows participating nationals to travel to the US for stays of 90 days or less without a visa; appoint a new group of chief executives to the US Travel and Tourism Advisory Board; and direct an interagency task force to develop recommendations for a National Travel and Tourism Strategy, including promoting national parks and other sites.
The approach was welcomed by Brazilian tourists Lilian Lara and Lindbergh Souza, who shopped along the resort’s streets hours before the president’s speech.
Souza said the visa process was expensive, at US$500, and time--consuming for Brazilians who do not live close to consuls in Rio de Janiero and Sao Paulo.
“The whole process took me six months,” Souza said.
From Florida, Obama headed to New York for four glitzy campaign fundraisers.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia