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Just days after the mid-term elections that devastated Democrats, Barack Obama left for the longest foreign trip of his Presidency. With First Lady Michelle Obama and an entourage of security and press, Obama spent the weekend in India, with the goal of strengthening ties with the world’s largest democracy. He marked his trip by paying tribute to the victims of the November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai but irked Indians by not mentioning Pakistan, from where the attacks were staged. He was confronted by a university student at town hall forum who asked the President why he didn’t refer to Pakistan as a “terrorist state.” This morning Obama made headlines when he backed a long-standing Indian desire to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council. He also offered to mediate between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, the most sensitive issue between the two nations. Meanwhile, given that Obama has cast the number one issue of his India trip as being American jobs, the White House announced that Indian and US corporations have discussed or signed over $14.9 billion in deals that will support 53,670 U.S. jobs.

GUEST: Vijay Prashad is the George and Martha Kellner Chair of South Asian History and Director of International Studies at Trinity College, Hartford, CT His most recent book, The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World, won the Muzaffar Ahmad Book Prize for 2009. The Swedish and French editions are just out.

Read Vijay Prashad’s article about Obama in India here: http://www.counterpunch.org/prashad11052010.html