Obama sets record for most foreign trips by a President in his first year

Via CBS News:

(CBS) Even before President Obama sets foot on Air Force One tomorrow [today- ST] to begin a 9-day trip to Asia, he has traveled to more countries in his first year in office than any of his predecessors.

Since taking office, he has made 7 foreign trips and visited 16 countries, 3 of them twice.

The Asia trip – which takes him to Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea – will bring his total to 8 foreign trips and 20 countries.

The only other president to come close to Mr. Obama’s first-year-in-office globe-trotting numbers is President George H. W. Bush, who took 7 foreign trips to 14 countries.

His son traveled abroad five times to 11 countries during his first year. President Clinton only did 2 foreign trips to 3 nations in 1993.

[…]

This Asia trip is not Mr. Obama’s last foreign foray of the year. He’s scheduled to travel to Oslo next month to accept the Nobel Peace Prize he was awarded in October. And he may stay or head back to Scandinavia to attend the United Nations Conference on Climate Change a few days later.

It will further secure his record as having done more foreign travel than any U.S. president to date.

Gee, with a foreign travels track record like that, it’s no wonder he hasn’t made a decision on Afghanistan yet. He’s a busy guy! As Think Progress liberal Matthew Yglesias has said before in a huffy response to the criticism that the President is dithering on Afghanistan, hey – it’s all about the priorities. Maybe he’s using all that foreign relations “experience” he got as a child in an effort to try and “repair” so-called “damaged” alliances abroad (well, some of them, anyway).

Oh well. I guess the foreign trips record is a better achievement than, say, having racked up more golf outings in your first year in office than your evil predecessor had in nearly three.

Just sayin’.