More attention has been given to U.S. President Barack Obama's late decision to cancel his trip to Asia than to what the region did without him.

This is testimony to America's enduring power and the president's prestige. Focus intensified also because of the circumstances that triggered the cancellation — dysfunctional Beltway politics that brought the world's largest economy to the edge of default.

Continuing market concerns about the debt ceiling crisis may validate the decision to prioritize domestic concerns. But that does not mean — as some in America think — that the cancellation exacted little cost or that Asians did not move ahead on their own agenda.