WASHINGTON, Nov 5, (Agencies): President Barack Obama left the fallout from the Democrats’ election drubbing behind Friday as he headed for India and what is likely to be a friendlier reception in the world’s largest democracy.
Before departing, Obama said the latest US unemployment report — showing a net gain of 151,000 jobs last month — was encouraging but “not good enough.” In a gesture toward resurgent Republicans, the president said he was open to “any idea, any proposal” to get the economy growing faster.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, boarded Air Force One at mid-morning to fly to Mumbai, India, where he was to arrive around noon local time Saturday after refueling in Germany. It is the first stop on a 10-day tour through India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan, the longest foreign outing of Obama’s presidency.
Obama’s trip aims to seek out economic benefit for the US, but advisers are also emphasizing his decision to visit four vibrant and growing democracies. It is an itinerary meant to reinforce support for democratic values at a time when the US commitment to human rights worldwide has sometimes come into question.

The president returns to the US Nov 14, a day ahead of a lame-duck congressional session in which the president will have to scratch for compromise with emboldened Republicans on extending Bush-era tax cuts, among other issues.
The Asia trip is anchored by must-attend gatherings of world leaders in South Korea and Japan. The timing is unconnected to Tuesday’s elections, but this week’s Democratic bloodletting is sure to dog Obama to the other side of the world. He will be meeting with growing powers certain to be keenly aware they are dealing with a newly weakened president backed by a divided Congress, its repercussions uncertain. The trip to India is Obama’s first to the burgeoning nation of 1.2 billion, a huge and growing trading partner where US officials see infinite potential. The president is spending three days there, dividing his time between Mumbai, the financial center on the coast of the Arabian Sea, and the capital of New Delhi. It is the longest single stretch he has spent in any foreign country, a point US officials are careful to emphasize.

“The primary purpose is to take a bunch of US companies and open up markets so that we can sell in Asia, in some of the fastest-growing markets in the world, and we can create jobs here in the United States,” Obama told reporters Thursday. “And my hope is, is that we’ve got some specific announcements that show the connection between what we’re doing overseas and what happens here at home when it comes to job growth and economic growth.”
Meanwhile, from US warships patrolling the waters to electronic jammers and even a ban on powerful Diwali firecrackers, nothing is being left to chance for US President Barack Obama’s visit to Mumbai.
Security will be tight for the two-day trip, with memories still fresh of the deadly attacks two years ago that killed 166 and Obama himself staying at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, which was the focus of the bloody, three-day siege.
Advance teams of US secret service agents have been in the city for weeks, working with their Indian counterparts to ensure the safety of the president’s accommodation, the venues he will visit and key transport links.
A senior Indian security official told the Mid-Day newspaper last month that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were overseeing the operation.