by Mark Silva
A couple of Nobel Peace Prize winners will meet today at the White House:
The president of the United States, and the exiled Buddhist spiritual leader of Tibet.
President Barack Obama's meeting in the Map Room today with the Dalai Lama isn't so much about the words the two share as it is the message they send to Tibetans and China, which is infuriated over the meeting.
Obama, remember, was awarded his Nobel last year for the promise of peace that he presents in the world - not for any realization of it. The 14th Dalai Lama was awarded the prize n 1989, after the protests in China that culminated in a crackdown at Tiananmen Square.
The Chinese, we're told, will be "watching closely to see how great a stage Obama offers'' the Dalai Lama, the renowned man of peace whom Chinese authorities view as a dangerous separatist.
When former President George W. Bush met with the Dalai Lama, they convened their talks in the private residence of the White House - though Bush made a high-profile appearance at the 2007 awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to a leader exiled since 1959. (Pictured here with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia in an AP photo from the ceremony.)
Obama will meet the man in the Map Room, where the great charts of history are collected - including one old working map depicting the fronts of the armies of World War II. This room in the basement of the White House is not the Oval Office, which the president reserves for meetings with other world leaders.
"The optics of this thing are incredibly important to the Chinese," Michael Green, Bush's former senior Asia adviser, tells the AP. "The Chinese government is preoccupied with protocol and how things look."
That means: What will be portrayed of the meeting? The White House plans to release an official photo of the two, both recipients of the Nobel Prize for Peace, both with world-size conflicts on their hands.
The U.S. needs China on many fronts - in the negotiations with North Korea and the standoff with Iran over nuclear development, in the battle against global warming. It's not only today's visit, but also the U.S. agreement to sell arms to Taiwan that has heightened tensions between the two super-powers lately.
The Dalai Lama's envoy, Lodi Gyari, explains that even the private meeting with Obama is a boost for Tibetans feeling marginalized by China. Green says that just the "fact that they spend time together in an intimate setting means everything for the Tibetan cause."
The Dalai Lama has met with American presidents for two decades. Bush broke the tradition of private meetings when he appeared at a public presentation in 2007 of a Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama, who fled his homeland to India in 1959 with his family and dozens of others during a failed uprising against China. Chinese troops had taken over Tibet in 1951.
George H.W. Bush was the first U.S. president to meet with the Dalai Lama -- in 1991, two years after the Tiananmen Square crackdown. The White House allowed no photos of the meeting.
Bill Clinton avoided formal visits and instead dropped by the Dalai Lama's meetings with other officials. Republicans criticized him for not formally receiving the Dalai Lama. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, now the secretary of state, also met with the Dalai Lama in the White House.
George W. Bush met several times with the Dalai Lama in private at the White House residence. In 2007, he joined the exiled Tibetan in front of Congress and television cameras.
The Associated Press contributed.





Comments
The unfortunate thing is that this shouldn't be (and probably isn't) surprising to anyone.
-
Obama's radical associations at Occidental College
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/02/obamas_radical_associations_at.html
Link to audio:
http://en.sevenload.com/videos/2YRDHpL-College-Acquaintance-Young-Obama-Was-Pure-Marxis
Posted by: Thank GOD I'm a Conservative | February 18, 2010 9:11 AM
The Soaring Debt of Obama . . . Obama Takes Deficits To New
Frontier
*
WOW, TURNS OUT HE'S AT LEAST GOOD AT SOMETHING!!
*
In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama said
that "families across the country are tightening their belts and
making tough decisions," so the "federal government should do the
same."
The following week, the president presented his new budget, which
contains $1.267 trillion in new deficit spending. So much for
cinching up the belt.
Elsewhere in his address, the president said, "Let me start the
discussion of government spending by setting the record
straight." But, in his subsequent words, he barely even mentioned
his own deficit spending.
This, of course, will not do. If we are to set the record
straight, we must take an honest look at President Obama's fiscal
record.
*
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=521420
Posted by: Bobby Mobbie | February 18, 2010 9:29 AM
SAY IT AIN'T SO, YET ANOTHER BROKEN CAMPAIGN PROMISE?
*
No dip in earmark spending despite White House push for transparency
*
Transparency requirements pushed for by the Obama administration have not changed the total spending on earmarks for 2010, according to a study by a group critical of the practice.
*
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/81771-no-dip-in-earmarks-despite-white-house-push-for-transparency
Posted by: Bobby Mobbie | February 18, 2010 9:30 AM
Dalai Lama to Obama: Why did you get your Nobel Peace Prize again?
Posted by: Chris | February 18, 2010 10:11 AM
This morning's big news isn't Tibet: it's that jobless claims AGAIN ROSE ("unexpectedly", of course)! And inflation (the PPI index) soared in January!
Any wagers on how long Mark Silva will hold off reporting this bad news for the nation and Obama? Numbers which (once again) put the lie to Obama's laughable job claims.
Posted by: Bruce | February 18, 2010 10:24 AM
Actually, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize several months after the Tiananmen massacre. As Yogi Berra once said, "You can look it up."
Posted by: David Urubshurow | February 18, 2010 10:47 AM
How do i get a sit down with the clown Obama? I got a Nobel Peace prize when i got my oil changed last week.
Posted by: Dave | February 18, 2010 10:57 AM
New jobless claims--473,000 this month!
And what did Barack Obama say in April of 2008, when new jobless claims hit 407,000 a month?-- "Sen. Barack Obama found "the latest indicator of how badly America needs fundamental change from Bush-McCain policies that have been devasting [sic] for working families"" (The Swamp, April 3, 2008)
Obama thought that 407,000 jobless claims is reason for a change in presidents. If so, then 473,000 jobless claims is more than enough reason for us to vote out--Obama.
Posted by: Bruce | February 18, 2010 11:51 AM
This morning's big news isn't Tibet: it's that jobless claims AGAIN ROSE ("unexpectedly", of course)! And inflation (the PPI index) soared in January!
Any wagers on how long Mark Silva will hold off reporting this bad news for the nation and Obama? Numbers which (once again) put the lie to Obama's laughable job claims.
Posted by: Bruce | February 18, 2010 10:24 AM
Bruce- Be patient...but don't hold your breath.
I am sure there is some hard hitting journalism cooking related to the imploding global warming hoax ...
Or perhaps we will get some investigation into how Al Gore managed to get into the witness protection program...he seems to have fallen off the edge of the earth since the adults started looking at the "science" of GW...
The AP managed to write an entire article on the top UN climate official resigning w/o even a casual reference to the recent avalanche of information exposing the GW nonsense..
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100218/ap_on_sc/climate_de_boer_quits
Posted by: heartburn | February 18, 2010 12:17 PM
The unfortunate thing is that this shouldn't be surprising to anyone.
-
Obama's radical associations at Occidental College
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/02/obamas_radical_associations_at.html
Link to audio:
http://en.sevenload.com/videos/2YRDHpL-College-Acquaintance-Young-Obama-Was-Pure-Marxis
Posted by: Thank GOD I'm a Conservative | February 18, 2010 12:25 PM
I THOUGHT THIS WAS THE PARTY WITH ALL THE IDEAS, ALL THE ANSWERS!!!
*
Democrats May Not Have Health Proposal Before Summit With Obama
*
eb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. House Democrats said their party may not be able to offer a single health-care proposal at the Feb. 25 meeting President Barack Obama has called with a challenge to Republicans to present their alternative.
Obama has promised to “post online the text of a proposed health-insurance package” in advance of the televised meeting.
*
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aBX89nnFj81U
Posted by: Bobby Mobbie | February 18, 2010 12:28 PM
BREAKING NEWS!!!
REPORT: After Voting To Kill Stimulus Bill, 110 GOP Lawmakers Tout Its Success, Ask For More Money
"As the economy continued to crater after Republican President George Bush left office, Obama’s stimulus sought to provide tax cuts for 95% of working Americans, funds to buoy cash-strapped state governments, new construction and infrastructure projects, and other programs to create jobs, retrain workers, and promote economic activity throughout the country. In December, the Congressional Budget Office reported that the stimulus had successfully created up to 1.6 million jobs, and today, a report shows the Recovery Act will ultimately create 2.5 million jobs. Even the conservative American Enterprise Institute found that the stimulus had boosted the U.S. economy by 4 percent."
"Individually, over half of the entire Republican caucus has hailed nearly every aspect of the stimulus as a success — from infrastructure funds, to food programs, to education grants. But politically, admitting its success might harm the GOP’s chances in November. So with Republicans fixated on winning politically, they have focused on deceiving the public by calling the stimulus a failure, while pretending successful programs aren’t stimulus funded."
*
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/02/17/stimulus-hypocrisy-101/
*
Posted by: former Republican | February 18, 2010 1:05 PM
It is great seeing all the cut and pasters Right Wing kool aid drinkers doing there jobs since they have no other way to be productive members of society.
Posted by: Bobby Mobbie | February 17, 2010 9:18 AM
Posted by: Unequal Time | February 18, 2010 1:07 PM
We need to quit trumping up stupid wars with places like Iraq and Iran and start fighting the real enemy of America - RIGHT WING DOMESTIC TERRORISTS.
"The Massachusetts man charged this week with stockpiling weapons after saying he feared an imminent "Armageddon" appears to have been active in the Tea Party movement, and saw Sarah Palin, who he said is on a "righteous 'Mission from God,'" as the only figure capable of averting the destruction of society."
"... found with a stash of military grade weapons, explosive devices including tear gas and pepper ball canisters, camouflage clothing, knives, handcuffs, bulletproof vests and helmets, and night vision goggles, say police."
"But it appears that Girard had lately found a community with which to share some of his growing fears. A "Greg Girard," listing his location as Manchester, Mass., has a personal page on the "Patriots of America" online network, a popular site affiliated with the Tea Party movement."
.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/man_charged_for_stockpiling_weapons_was_tea_partie.php
.
So, what prompted Girard to stock up (and advise his wife to shoot "traitors" in the head)? .....He was afraid President Obama was coming for his guns.
Of course "no one" could have anticipated that anyone would try to act on the unfounded fears that the Right Wing Noise Machine media whips up about President Obama, right?
.
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/19094064/detail.html
.
Posted by: Planet Wingnuttia | February 18, 2010 1:09 PM
WTF is with The Swamp????
Your scroll function sucks, it sits idle for hours on end and then a bunch of cut and paste bs from one or two tiresome regulars.
Get your phucking shit together and maybe some of us former regulars will bother ever coming back here.
Posted by: Former Swamp Participant | February 18, 2010 4:27 PM
~~OBAMA, DALAI LAMA: MAPPING PEACE~~
Why don't you find the map to your office and get to work on the economy, jobs and fighting terrorism.
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | February 18, 2010 5:16 PM
Here's some video of the Dalai Lama's unorthodox interactions with the media outside the White House:
http://www.gotchamediablog.com/2010/02/dalai-lama-messes-with-media.html
Posted by: Matt | February 18, 2010 5:39 PM
You mean mapping peace in an alternate universe.
.
Planning to meet with the Dalai Lama infuriated the Chinese.
.
So did the arms deal to Taiwan.
.
So did lecturing the Chinese about the internet, freedom of speech and their internal affairs.
.
So are the federal government’s finances. The Chinese believe the federal government’s irresponsible budgeting is injuring China’s investments in America.
.
Why, if Obama keeps mapping out peace the way he is, we might find ourselves at war with one of the two main countries actually willing to bankroll our excesses. Way to go with all that peace mapping stuff!
Posted by: John W. | February 18, 2010 6:37 PM
Dave,
You mean the Brylcreem on your hairplugs?
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | February 18, 2010 9:31 PM
China didn't want Obama to meet with Dalai Lama? China tries to sway USA foreign policy and human rights policy? Pfft. Obama should have the Lama over for a two week stay in the White House and perhaps the Lama could become the Obama girls honorary God Father.
*
China (getting more pushy each day that they own us)--and, add to that the Vatican (perverted men reaching across the Atlantic--wanting to control American womens bodies and lives) and Mexico (yep, they want one crappy North American low currency and one North American EU--puke) have all been making some bad suggestions for America lately--all sticking their noses where they don't belong and where theyr'e not appreciated. Usually, the ones making the suggestions are pushy SOBs--they want to manipulate and have the most to gain. Pfft.
*
Let's keep the nukes handy for our pushy friends and bankers in the East, slam shut the tithing pocketbooks and the paternal Vatican pressure on American lawmakers, and remind Mexico that it was France--not America--that was the inspiration for and the builder of the Statue of Liberty. It's time we let ourselves off the hook for what France forced onto us. France can have the tired, poor and huddled masses as we have enough of our own. Many of the masses now want our currency and want carte blanche to roam roughshod through America without going through the normal legal channels.--This is the sentiment of many dems who are first Americans, and who are secondly registered as something else in order to vote in the primaries.
Posted by: Vivian | February 18, 2010 10:49 PM
China is ultra sensitive about the three "Ts" - Taiwan, Tibet and Tiananmen. Their feathers get ruffled every time one is mentioned. They should all be mentioned. What bothers me is the position our country has put itself in by having to dance around these issues because China is our largest foreign creditior. I applaud BO for telling China where to stick it concerning the DL, although I wish he would have done it last fall when he backed down, or as the WH propoganda machine would say, "postponed" the meeting. We knew BO would have to learn on the job and I guess this is just part of it.
-------
I'm not really sure what the DL wants, or how this meeting is seeking peace. My understanding is that the DL wants "autonomy" for Tibet. What the difference is between this and independence from China is where it gets murky.
Posted by: Herbie H. | February 19, 2010 12:56 PM
Scooted the Dalai Lama out the back door - there's a picture of him leaving walking past the White House garbage bags.
Posted by: vla | February 19, 2010 1:07 PM
We latinos still waiting for a new immigration reform, if it is not accomplished do not count with our votes for reelection Mr. President.
Posted by: Angel Raudales | February 19, 2010 5:30 PM
Angel---Only those who did not commit a crime when entering the USA--you know, those who came in LEGALLY--then became citizens should be allowed to vote for President Obama's reelection. Existing border and immigration laws need to be enforced before any "reform" is done. Otherwise, we will stoop to the base level of those breaking into our country. If you are still personally waiting for "reform", you couldn't have voted in '08, so your vote was not needed to get Obama in office for his first term--and it can be done again without you for a second term. It's bad news to hear political threats from people who aren't even citizens yet. Your threat looks like good reason for NOT doing "reform". Why don't unhappy Latinos sneak back into their own nation? Follow the 'S' on the compass. Go in the direction opposite of where the moss grows on the trees.
Immigration is for law abiding people. Immigration "reform" is for criminals.
Posted by: Vivian | February 19, 2010 11:09 PM
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Posted by: vjcherian1 | February 20, 2010 12:41 AM
Here's what the BO administration really thought of the Dalai Lama - out the back door and thru the garbage.
http://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/96834730/AFP
Posted by: Terry | February 21, 2010 10:03 AM