Photo gallery: Obama and Clinton tour Southeast Asia
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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reacts as she arrives last for a meeting between President Barack Obama and Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda at the East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh on Nov 20, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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US President Barack Obama, (second from left), smiles as he meets with Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, (right), during the East Asia Summit at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Tuesday, Nov 20, 2012. Smiling at, (left), is US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. -- PHOTO: AP
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US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton board Air Force One at the airport in Yangon on Nov 19, 2012. Huge crowds greeted Barack Obama in Myanmar on the first visit by a serving US president to the former pariah state to encourage a string of startling political reforms. -- PHOTO: AFP
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US President Barack Obama speaks to the media after he "doused eleven flames" as he tours the Shwedagon Pagoda with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Yangon, Myanmar on Monday, Nov 19, 2012. This is the first visit to Myanmar by a sitting US president. -- PHOTO: AP
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US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, (left in foreground), and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi sit together before US President Barack Obama speaks at University of Yangon, in Yangon, Myanmar on Monday, Nov 19, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, (left), listens to Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi before US President Barack Obama speaks at the University of Yangon in Yangon on Nov 19, 2012. Huge crowds greeted Mr Barack Obama in Myanmar on the first visit by a serving US president to the former pariah state to encourage a string of startling political reforms. -- PHOTO: AFP
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US President Barack Obama, (right), watches as Myanmar democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, (centre), greets US Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton at her residence in Yangon, Myanmar on Monday, Nov 19, 2012. Mr Obama is the first sitting US president to visit the Asian nation. -- PHOTO: AP
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US President Barack Obama tours the Shwedagon Pagoda with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Yangon, Myanmar on Monday, Nov 19, 2012. This is the first visit to Myanmar by a sitting US president. -- PHOTO: AP
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US President Barack Obama, (right), performs a ritual as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, (second left), looks on as they visit the Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon on Nov 19, 2012. Huge crowds greeted Mr Barack Obama in Myanmar on the first visit by a serving US president to the former pariah state to encourage a string of startling political reforms. -- PHOTO: AFP
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US President Barack Obama and Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra participate in toasts alongside US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a dinner at Government House in Bangkok on Nov 18, 2012. President Obama kicked off a three-country Asia tour with a visit to Thailand on Sunday, using his first post-election trek overseas to try to show he is serious about shifting the US strategic focus eastwards. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton smile as they stand at the base of the Reclining Buddha during their tour of the Wat Pho Royal Monastery in Bangkok on Nov 18, 2012. Mr Obama kicked off a three-country Asia tour with a visit to Thailand on Sunday, using his first post-election trek overseas to try to show he is serious about shifting the US strategic focus eastwards. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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US President Barack Obama, (left), and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, (centre), tour the Wat Pho Royal Monastery with Chaokun Suthee Thammanuwat, Dean, Faculty of Buddhism Assistant to the Abbot of Wat Phra Chetuphon, in Bangkok, Thailand on Sunday, Nov 18, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reacts as she arrives last for a meeting between President Barack Obama and Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda at the East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh on Nov 20, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
US President Barack Obama, (second from left), smiles as he meets with Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, (right), during the East Asia Summit at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Tuesday, Nov 20, 2012. Smiling at, (left), is US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. -- PHOTO: AP
US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton board Air Force One at the airport in Yangon on Nov 19, 2012. Huge crowds greeted Barack Obama in Myanmar on the first visit by a serving US president to the former pariah state to encourage a string of startling political reforms. -- PHOTO: AFP
US President Barack Obama speaks to the media after he "doused eleven flames" as he tours the Shwedagon Pagoda with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Yangon, Myanmar on Monday, Nov 19, 2012. This is the first visit to Myanmar by a sitting US president. -- PHOTO: AP
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, (left in foreground), and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi sit together before US President Barack Obama speaks at University of Yangon, in Yangon, Myanmar on Monday, Nov 19, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, (left), listens to Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi before US President Barack Obama speaks at the University of Yangon in Yangon on Nov 19, 2012. Huge crowds greeted Mr Barack Obama in Myanmar on the first visit by a serving US president to the former pariah state to encourage a string of startling political reforms. -- PHOTO: AFP
US President Barack Obama, (right), watches as Myanmar democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, (centre), greets US Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton at her residence in Yangon, Myanmar on Monday, Nov 19, 2012. Mr Obama is the first sitting US president to visit the Asian nation. -- PHOTO: AP
US President Barack Obama tours the Shwedagon Pagoda with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Yangon, Myanmar on Monday, Nov 19, 2012. This is the first visit to Myanmar by a sitting US president. -- PHOTO: AP
US President Barack Obama, (right), performs a ritual as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, (second left), looks on as they visit the Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon on Nov 19, 2012. Huge crowds greeted Mr Barack Obama in Myanmar on the first visit by a serving US president to the former pariah state to encourage a string of startling political reforms. -- PHOTO: AFP
US President Barack Obama and Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra participate in toasts alongside US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a dinner at Government House in Bangkok on Nov 18, 2012. President Obama kicked off a three-country Asia tour with a visit to Thailand on Sunday, using his first post-election trek overseas to try to show he is serious about shifting the US strategic focus eastwards. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton smile as they stand at the base of the Reclining Buddha during their tour of the Wat Pho Royal Monastery in Bangkok on Nov 18, 2012. Mr Obama kicked off a three-country Asia tour with a visit to Thailand on Sunday, using his first post-election trek overseas to try to show he is serious about shifting the US strategic focus eastwards. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
US President Barack Obama, (left), and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, (centre), tour the Wat Pho Royal Monastery with Chaokun Suthee Thammanuwat, Dean, Faculty of Buddhism Assistant to the Abbot of Wat Phra Chetuphon, in Bangkok, Thailand on Sunday, Nov 18, 2012. -- PHOTO: AP
They emerged from Air Force One together, side by side, smiling at the crowd waiting on the tarmac below. Then as they headed down the stairs, she held back just a little so that she would stay a step behind him.
For President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, this week’s trip to Southeast Asia is to be their last foreign adventure together in office, an intriguing, sometimes awkward closing road show that is nostalgic over a partnership at an end yet hints at a future ripe with possibility.
