All dressed up. Obama with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Every year at the summit of leaders from Asia and the Pacific Rim nations, the presidents and prime ministers put on shirts that reflect the host nation's sense of style and gather for what have become light-hearted photos.
The Associated Press calls it the "funny shirt photo." The 2004 photos of then-president George W. Bush and other leaders in Chilean "Chamantos" are well-remembered.
President Barack Obama, attending his first annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, was in Singapore yesterday for this year's funny photos. The garb: Silk tunic shirts with mandarin collars, in a choice of red or blue-gray.
Of course, there's also been work to do at the summit. NPR's Scott Horsley, who's traveling with the president on Obama's 10-day trip across Asia, says Obama "became the first American leader in decades to sit in the same room with Myanmar's military ruler." According to one of Obama's national security advisers, Scott reports, the president took the opportunity to call for political reform in Myanmar, and specifically for the release of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other pro-democracy political prisoners.
Obama also met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and the two discussed the ongoing problem of Iran's nuclear ambitions. The leaders said they aren't satisified with the pace of talks with Iran and that "other options" might have to be explored.
As The New York Times writes, Obama also said that "the reset button has worked" to improve U.S.-Russian relations.
It's was announced that the 2011 APEC summit will be held in Obama's native state; Hawaii.
We suspect we know what type of shirt the leaders will be wearing in that year's group photo.
The 2009 class photo (Obama is ninth from the left).
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