Mohandas Gandhi, whose ideas of nonviolence and national personal austerity conflict with India's current direction, has long been an inspiration to Obama. Obama on multiple occasions has cited Gandhi's civil disobedience as an influence on the U.S. civil rights movement.

But Obama's personal investment in Gandhi's ideals puts him at odds with some of his responsibilities as president. Those ideals are also in opposition with India's rise as a global power.

President Obama landed in India Satruday, the first stop on his visit to four Asian countries in an attempt to strengthen economic ties with them.

On Obama's first day in India, he visited Gandhi's former home in Mumbai, which is now the Mani Bhavan museum. Sunday he is scheduled to visit the Rajghat, the site where Gandhi was assassinated and cremated in 1948.

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