Obama Disses Dalai Lama To Woo Red China
Hey, you remember the Dalai Lama, right? He’s the guy who met with President Bush and on whom Congress bestowed a Congressional Gold Medal “for what American legislators say is his fight for democracy, freedom, and Tibet’s cultural heritage through a negotiated settlement with Beijing based on autonomy within the People’s Republic.” He offered up some criticism to Bush both before and after the meeting, speaking his mind, yet, Bush still met with him, and gave this speech while bestowing the medal. Many other Congressional leaders, including Nancy Pelosi, gave very nice speeches during the ceremony, as well. But, hey, that was then, now is the time of The One
In an attempt to gain favor with China, the United States pressured Tibetan representatives to postpone a meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Obama until after Obama’s summit with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, scheduled for next month, according to diplomats, government officials and other sources familiar with the talks.
For the first time since 1991, the Tibetan spiritual leader will visit Washington this week and not meet with the president. Since 1991, he has been here 10 times. Most times the meetings have been “drop-in” visits at the White House. The last time he was here, in 2007, however, George W. Bush became the first sitting president to meet with him publicly, at a ceremony at the Capitol in which he awarded the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’s highest civilian award.
Did I mention that he also was a Nobel Peace Prize recipient? One who actually deserved and earned it? And fights hard for human rights?
The U.S. decision to postpone the meeting appears to be part of a strategy to improve ties with China that also includes soft-pedaling criticism of China’s human rights and financial policies as well as backing efforts to elevate China’s position in international institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund. Obama administration officials have termed the new policy “strategic reassurance,” which entails the U.S. government taking steps to convince China that it is not out to contain the emerging Asian power.
Well, I suppose Obama has to do that, considering he has saddled America with tremendous debt which is held by China.
U.S. officials also said they are not pulling punches with the Chinese. They have, however, indicated that they want to try something new on Tibet, figuring that the old policy — of meeting with the Dalai Lama regularly and calling for substantive talks between China and his representatives — had achieved little. American officials told Tibetan representatives that “this president is not interested in symbolism or photo ops but in deliverables,” the Asian diplomat said. “He wants something to come out of his efforts over Tibet, rather than just checking a box.”
Yeah, that old policy of pushing for human rights.
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Posted by William Teach on October 5, 2009 9:37 am
» Filed Under Barack Obama, China, Communism, Foreign Policy, News, President
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5 Responses to “Obama Disses Dalai Lama To Woo Red China”
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Syndicate Me
While he feeds Tibet to the wolves, keep your eyes on Taiwan…weaka** mf…please pardon my french. Could we have elected anyone weaker? I think Cindy Sheehan would have been hawk next to him!
Let’s face it, Obama can’t stand the Dali Lama because there can only be one mystical superhero in the room, and that job is TAKEN.
Sorry Dali Lama.
Can anyone believe “smart power” is being used by the current administration.Moreover,Hillary has been missing in action.
He holds a Ramadan dinner in the White House, but doesn’t have time to meet with the head of Tibetan Buddhism.
Mmm, mmm, mmm,
Barack HUSSEIN Obama
Hi,
I am writing in response to your post about President Obama’s diss of the Dalai Lama. I am a proud member of the ACLU(in fact the SBA rep for my law school) and honestly, I am really ashamed and pissed off at President Obama about this.
Also, as to the ACLU’s position on President Obama, I feel as if we are just as angry at him here and most of our meetings are express new frustrations with the administration. Maybe that means he’s a centrist, or maybe that means we in the ACLU are “out of step” with main stream America. All I know is that he is not the “ACLU’s” President and in many ways is even worse(or in your mind better) than Bush/Cheney on a lot of Civil – Rights /Terrorism/Free Speech issues on which the ACLU stands.
Either way, don’t casually confuse the President’s policies with ours. However, I believe I speak for most members of our organization when I say that we tend to support civil liberties(Free speech, Free expression, Freedom of/from religion, and more…) here AND abroad(yes, that includes China). At the Amnesty International meeting last year we referred to AI as the “foreign” arm of the global human rights movement and the ACLU as its “domestic” arm. Just as a disclaimer I am NOT SPEAKING OFFICIALLY for any of the organizations in question I am simply stating my observations.
I also think it is misrepresentation to claim that the left is overall “worse” than the right on Tibet.(also, another disclaimer, neither the ALCU, AI, or SFT are “leftist” or “rightist,” both organizations have powerful allies AND opponents on both sides and in BOTH major US political parties) However, I would agree that President Obama has placated China to a level that has shocked me. Senator Obama(the man I voted for) spoke out against the Chinese crackdown on Tibetans and encouraged that then-President Bush to boycott the Beijing Olympics(which Bush did not). However, PRESIDENT Obama has downplayed human rights to a level that has sickened me, one of the most adamant leftists.
As for you, (and anyone else) on this site. If you are ACTUALLY interested in promoting the cause of Tibetan Freedom or Global Human Rights in general I have two sites/organizations I would direct you too. These are Students for a Free Tibet(SFT),(the organization that headed the GLOBAL protests against Chinese tyranny during the Olympics) and Amnesty International,(at last year’s AI General Meeting, I actually MET the leader of SFT, Lhadon Tethong, who undertook severe personal risk to protest for Tibet IN CHINA.) I am also PROUD to say that these two organizations are ALLIES of the ACLU, and there is a large overlap in their memberships.
So, if you are trying to slander/score political points against Obama over this than go for it, he deserves to get hurt at the polls for this move. However, if you are trying to score political points against the ACLU over this than you are 1) perpetuating a false alliance between our organization and the White House, and 2) losing the support of people who might actually agree with you that the President is in fact not all he is cracked up to be.