Obama beams over 'sights and sounds' of Indonesia

[November 09, 2010]  JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- President Barack Obama says the landscape of Indonesia "has changed completely" since he lived there as a child in the late 1960s.

He told reporters at a news conference in Jakarka Tuesday that he has thoroughly enjoyed his first return visit to the Asian nation as president, saying "it's wonderful to be here," and wishing aloud that he could stay longer.

Obama called it "a little disorienting" to come back to Indonesia as president decades later and see a country so much changed.

The president said, "I feel great affection for the people here." He noted that he has a sister who is half-Indonesian and that "my mother lived and worked here for a long time." He said he has been struck by "the sights and the sounds" that have brought back vivid memories of his childhood.

[Associated Press; By ERICA WERNER]

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