No, there couldn't POSSIBLY be any reason to go to a nuclear-armed country that has fought border wars with it's neighbor who is supposed to be our 'ally' in the War Against Terror but has it's Security Services financing the Taliban.

No, no reason at all for a state visit to the country that bills itself as the World's Largest Democracy. No reason to go to the country that, with China, is going to DWARF our pollution emissions.

No, no reason at all.

No reason to try and apply some pressure to get India to loosen up it's Byzantine import restrictions. Nothing to see there.

But if *Bush* had gone, you'd be all for it.

I'm not saying this trip will produce these results - Nixon didn't exactly open up China with his first visit - but there are plenty of reasons to go.

Oh - and by the way - Bush *did* go there in early 2006. Do your homework before you make such a blanket statement. Eisenhower went in 1959, Nixon was there briefly in 1969, Clinton in 2000. That's what I got from a few seconds with Google and is most likely NOT a complete list.

Heck, there's another reason as well - it's only polite. The Indian Prime Minister visited the White House early in Obama's term.