Perhaps it was jet lag, or the fact that President Barack Obama had Asia on his mind because he was bringing closure to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit he hosted in Hawaii. Whatever it was, it provided an oops moment when Obama confused his birthplace state with Asia.
During the summit’s wrap-up news conference near Honolulu Sunday, Obama answered a question about budget cuts thusly: "When I meet with world leaders, what's striking — whether it's in Europe or here in Asia — the kinds of fundamental reforms and changes, both on the revenue side and the public pension side, that other countries are having to make are so much more significant than what we need to do in order to get our books in order," Obama said.
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Although Hawaii floats between Asia and the United States, the island chain has been the 50th state, since 1959.
And the president obviously knows that, because he began the 42-minute news conference by thanking the people of Hawaii for their hospitality in hosting the 21 presidents who attended the Asia-Pacific summit.
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