Obama Clearly at Ease in Bali

“Who can blame the Chinese for ignoring our complaints when the status quo has served them so well?” Romney asked in an opinion piece in the Politico newspaper. As if on cue, Obama, who was criticized for taking an overly accommodating approach in a 2009 trip to Beijing, called the U.S.-Chinese relationship “off-kilter” and suggested China was now too “grown up” to flout international trade rules.

Beijing seemed to find the shift jarring and it was unclear whether Obama managed to ease the tensions in conversations he had near the end of the trip with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Budget battles

When Obama returns to the White House, one of his first orders of business will be to get up to speed on the struggles of the congressional “super committee.” The panel of Democratic and Republican lawmakers is trying to craft a deal to cut the U.S. budget deficit by $1.2 trillion with a deadline looming on Wednesday, the day before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Few in Washington are hopeful the committee can break its impasse and a failure would be a blow to both Obama’s Democrats and opposition Republicans. In Hawaii, he even hinted that the budget battles and his push for to pass initiatives on jobs could disrupt his plans to return to Hawaii for a family vacation in December.

He also referred jokingly to the stalemate during his visit to Canberra, Australia’s capital, where he said he was eager to introduce “ear-bashing” — an Australian expression for lecturing somebody — to Washington’s vernacular. Some have questioned whether the U.S. fiscal strains could limit America’s ability to serve as a counterweight to China, especially if the congressional “super committee” fails to reach a deal and defense budgets suffer blunt cuts.

But with Europe mired in debt crisis, both Democrats and Republicans are clearly focused on Asia as a key economic partner for the United States. Foreign policy experts say that is unlikely to change no matter who wins the 2012 election.

“It is a safe bet that Obama and his successors - despite powerful fiscal and political constraints at home - will be able to follow through on plans to bulk up America’s presence,” said Charles Kupchan, a Georgetown University professor.