Domestic issues follow Obama to India

NEW DELHI - Hampered by heavy election losses at home, President Barack Obama promised yesterday to make "midcourse corrections" to reinvigorate his embattled domestic agenda in the face of a testier American public and more combative Congress.

On a day of friendly outreach in India, Obama also was confronted about his support for Pakistan, New Delhi's nuclear neighbor and rival.

He defended the alliance while acknowledging that Pakistan-based extremists are "a cancer" with the potential to "engulf the country." His comments took on added significance because he spoke in Mumbai, where memories are fresh from attacks in 2008 by Pakistani assailants that killed 166 in the city. Obama urged the two nations to talk peace; he didn't commit the United States as middle man.

Domestic politics followed Obama across the globe, and he tried to explain how he will recalibrate his presidency from the rubble of this past week's elections. The topic came up not in response to a question from a Washington reporter but rather an Indian college student, who told Obama: "It seems that the American people have asked for a change."

The president agreed that people vented their frustration about the economy by sacking many incumbents. A "healthy thing," he said, even though his Democratic Party lost control of one of the chambers in Congress. He said he would not retreat on spending money for energy and education, and offered no specific policy changes.

But then he added that the election "requires me to make some midcourse corrections and adjustments. And how those play themselves out over the next several months will be a matter of me being in discussions with the Republican Party."

For all his emphasis on jobs and security, Obama was determined to make the day a more casual expression of his engagement in India.

And this picture emerged: a rigid but good-spirited attempt by the president to dance with children, who pulled him from his chair to join them and his wife, Michelle, already participating gracefully.

That scene unfolded at a school where the Obamas spoke with students about science projects and helped celebrate the religious festival Diwali. Said one boy afterward: "I am feeling very proud."

The centerpiece of Obama's day was his stop at St. Xavier College, a Jesuit institution.

Obama has used this town hall format in foreign travels as a way to connect with people, although by the time he was done offering advice to the students, he could take only six questions.

One of the sharper ones was this: "Why is Pakistan so important an ally to America, so far as America has never called it a terrorist state?" There were some murmurs from the audience. Obama said it was OK. He knew it was coming.