At Bangkok's Wat Pho royal monastery, home to the massive golden reclining buddha, President Obama made a joke to one of the monks about averting the fiscal cliff back home.

"Yes we're working on this budget, we're going to need a lot of prayer for that,'' he said to laughter.

Later, while at a news conference with the prime minister of Thailand, Obama said he was confident  Congress and he could work out a deal on taxes and spending cuts, but that he'd welcome payer anytime he could get it. "If a Buddhist monk is wishing me well, I’m going to take whatever good vibes he can give me to try to deal with some challenges back home,'' he said.

"I’m confident that we can get our fiscal situation dealt with," he said. "And I think it’s important to recognize that, yes, democracy is a little messier than alternative systems of government, but that’s because democracy allows everybody to have a voice. And that system of government lasts, and it’s legitimate, and when agreements are finally struck, you know that nobody is being left out of the conversation. And that’s the reason for our stability and our prosperity."