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The White House Blunder is headed Down Under.

Aussie reader Ruth e-mailed me tonight to flag President Obama’s upcoming visit to Australia. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s “popularity is sinking slowly” in an election year, Ruth writes, and “his almost evangelical support” of man-made global warming theory “is going to be the weighty millstone around his neck.”

Reverse Midas Touch powers, activate! Via the Courier Mail:

THE world’s most powerful man and his family are expected to bypass Brisbane when US President Barack Obama makes his first official trip Down Under. But Premier Anna Bligh is mounting a strong case to encourage the global political star to Queensland. Mr Obama and his entourage are expected to follow the lead of other high-profile visitors, such as Prince William, and not venture north of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs yesterday said Mr Obama’s wife, Michelle, and their children, Sasha, 8, and Malia, 11, would join the US President on his trip. Details of the Obamas’ itinerary are a closely guarded secret.

Mr Rudd, who yesterday welcomed Mr Obama’s visit to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Australia-US diplomatic relations, was tight-lipped when asked which cities the US President would visit. “I don’t have an answer to that . . . and the reason is, it’s subject to continued discussion between ourselves and the White House,” he said.

Mr Obama will, however, be invited to address a joint sitting of the Australian Parliament in Canberra. “This is the way in which we respect the leaders of a great democracy and the United States is one,” Mr Rudd said. This could mean a scenario where Parliament is recalled in late March for Mr Obama’s visit.

The article notes that Obama is also scheduled to visit his childhood home in Indonesia…to save that statue, no doubt.