Obama cancels his entire Asia trip because of the federal shutdown

President Barack Obama has canceled a long-planned trip to Asia next week because of the government shutdown.
The President had already shortened the trip from four countries to two but then on Thursday the called the trip off all together.
The White House announced earlier in the week that Obama would be unable to visit Malaysia and the Philippines because the partial shutdown of the federal government was impacting personnel needed to set up the stops.

Calling it off: President Obama and his advisers decided that they had to cancel his planned trip to Asia due to the ongoing government shutdown

The White House had held out hope that the president could attend to economic summits in Indonesia and Brunei.
But he decided to skip the entire trip to stay in Washington to continue pressing for a budget bill that would reopen the government.
He reportedly told the leaders of Malaysia and the Philippines that he will be making visits to their countries later in his term but there has been no such public declaration for Indonesia- where he lived as a young boy- or Brunei.
'The cancellation of this trip is another consequence of the House Republicans forcing a shutdown of the government,' White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.

Disappointment: Dancers in Bali, Indonesia were performing at the welcome reception for the APEC conference on Friday when it became clear that President Obama would not be attending. He was due to arrive Sunday

Celebrating far away: Secretary of State John Kerry will visit the four countries in the place of the President. He was already in Asia, seen here on Thursday with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in Japan (it was Hagel's birthday)

'This completely avoidable shutdown is setting back our ability to create jobs through promotion of U.S. exports and advance U.S. leadership and interests in the largest emerging region in the world.'
Obama had been due to depart Washington late Saturday night, and it is still unclear whether or not the shutdown will carry on until that point.
Even if Congress and the Senate are able to agree on a budget by that point, the President's advance teams will not have enough time to prepare.
A New York Times article about the effects of the shutdown on the White House revealed that all but one of the members of the President’s advance team have been furloughed.
After the first stops on the trip were canceled, deputy press secretary Josh Earnest was tasked with cancelling the private planes that had been booked for the flight, and now he will surely be making some more calls. 

Continued confusion: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid defended the Democrats stance against Republican attempts to gut the Affordable Care Act as part of the budget approval process

Secretary of State John Kerry, already on a trip to Asia, is visiting all four countries in place of the president.
The White House said Obama called the Sultan of Brunei and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday night to express his regret.
Prior to their announcement, some thought that there would be some benefits for the President to be seen as global leader.
'Timing is everything, and if the moment is right to contrast leading on the world scene to being stuck in Washington gridlock, going on the road makes some sense,' said Mike McCurry, who served as former President Clinton's press secretary during the last federal shutdown.