BANGKOK — President Obama flew around the world to visit a giant reclining Buddha and pay a courtesy call on a hospitalized king — all to make a point.

After too many years of being obsessed with the Middle East, Mr. Obama argues, it is time for the United States to focus on the rise of Asia. The only problem? The Middle East is not cooperating.

Mr. Obama had not even landed here in Thailand on Sunday before finding his four-day, three-country Asia tour shadowed by the new crisis in Israel and Gaza. Aides have been briefing him on the latest in the conflict, and he has been working the phones with the leaders of Israel, Egypt and Turkey. Even his joint appearance with Thailand’s prime minister was partly consumed by the Gaza question.

The confluence of events serve as a vivid reminder that the presidency is an exercise in juggling priorities. But the peculiar timing also underscores why Asia has often taken a back seat in American policy to the more volatile areas of the world, not just under this president, but under the past six.