President Obama To Meet Dalai Lama, Test Limits Of Symbolism

At 11:15 this morning, two Nobel Peace Prize winners will meet privately in a room that is best known as the place where President Franklin Roosevelt planned World War II. This fact likely has little symbolic value, but given that the event in question–a long-awaited, once-delayed meeting between President Obama and the Dalai Lama–is all about symbolism, no potential sign of meaning should go unmentioned.

There are, after all, few questions of substance on the table. Obama has firmly established a policy towards China that puts economic and other national security concerns above the nation’s human rights record. Under this formulation, Obama speaks delicately about his concerns over China’s behavior in Tibet, the nation that the Dalai Lama fled in 1959, after a failed uprising against Chinese authorities. Obama stated his position on Tibet in a joint press event last November with Chinese Presisdent Hu Jintao in Beijing. Said Obama,

We did note that while we recognize that Tibet is part of the people’s Republic of China, the United States supports the early resumption of dialogue between the Chinese government and representatives of the Dalai Lama to resolved any concerns and differences that the two sides may have.

These were not exactly fighting words–the first part is a notable concession of Chinese authority–and they came after the White House had made the public move of delaying a meeting with the Dalai Lama until after Obama’s first official China visit. On Wednesday, in the Briefing Room, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was careful not to ruffle any more diplomatic feathers over the visit.

QUESTION: Dalai Lama is also meeting with Secretary Clinton, as I understand. The White House has said that the — that the president is meeting with the Dalai Lama as a spiritual leader. What does it say to have the secretary of state also meeting with him?

GIBBS: I — I will direct you to the Department of State to answer that question.

QUESTION: So, but the White House didn’t have any consultations on who — who in the administration would be meeting with (inaudible)?

GIBBS: I’d point you to the Department of State on that. . . .

QUESTION: The president is ready to meet the Dalai Lama, and let’s say, if he asks for freedom or independence or more autonomy for his people?

GIBBS: We will — we will give you guys a readout for what they talk about tomorrow.

A photo will be released of the White House meeting, though there will be no direct press coverage. This fits with the pattern of these meetings, which was broken in 2007, when President Bush awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama.

The diplomatic tiptoeing comes at a fragile point in U.S. relations with China. In the coming weeks, China will likely be forced to decide whether or not to support more sanctions against Iran on the U.N. Security Council. The Obama Administration has been working for months to lay the groundwork for Chinese support of further isolating Iran.

If news is to be made today, it will likely come after the Dalai Lama emerges from his meeting with the president. In the past, the Tibetan leader has walked to the microphones to address reporters. Here is the scene from 2003.

The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy

More than five months from Election Day, the back-and-forth about Mitt Romney’s record at Bain already feels played out. Unfortunately, there’s good reason to expect the campaign continues in this vein indefinitely. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney are terribly interested in dwelling on policy platforms. Romney’s plan to slash spending and keep taxes low on the wealthy isn’t especially popular, at least not at any level of detail beyond a blithe promise to shrink the deficit. Meanwhile, Obama’s signature first-term achievements, like health care, the stimulus and Wall Street reform, are all unpopular or tricky to sell. (The Dodd-Frank bill is the most popular of these, but hyping it means offending wealthy donors.) So what we’re getting instead is a superficial duel about character–and, worse, one that’s based on the largely false premise that the better man can better “manage” the economy back to health.

tstar3

So I will admit that I did not read the post, by the second sentence I knew what I wanted.Obama meets Dalai Lama at 11..why the 3,000 word post MS? Why?
kbanginmotown

3000 words and Scherer left out: ‘Gunga galunga …. gunga, gunga-lagunga.’
afguy

Obama has firmly established a policy towards China that puts economic and other national security concerns above the nation’s human rights record.
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What do you mean Obama has…established? Other than the occasional speech condemning their rights record over time, we’ve had that policy for years. Nothing really concrete has ever been done.
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When Google was considering going into China, the justification was that they (and Microsoft, too) could do more to influence their human rights by our robust representation of democracy and capitalism. Economics has ALWAYS taken precidence over the human rights. Only the rationale for that position has varied.
sacredh

I couldn’t bring myself to watch the clip of the Dalai Lama. There’s green leaves in the background and it looks like it’s warm outside. I forget what that’s like.
allthingsinaname

“Obama has firmly established a policy towards China that puts economic and other national security concerns above the nation’s human rights record.”
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You mean like torture, the Iraq War, Wire tapes, Health Care, SS, Medicare, Education system, and other GOP platforms in America.
afguy

We did withhold “favored nation status” from China at one time – until it looked like that market might be cultivated by someone else and we might lose out on several hundred million new potential customers.
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Then ~~we sold out~~ our principles evolved, and we suddenly decided that we could better ~~make money off of~~ influence them by letting them make our textiles, clothing and electronics, as well as buy up a lot of our debt.
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As a result, ~~Wall Street was happy~~ the country prospered.
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And here we are now…
sacredh

That’s a pretty heavy dose of sarcasm for this early in the morning.
http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com lawyermommy

“There are, after all, few questions of substance on the table. Obama has firmly established a policy towards China that puts economic and other national security concerns above the nation’s human rights record.”

This is a direct quote from your article and it is wonderful to read.
Aaaah, the President is young and new to the position but is still toeing the line and putting America first. This is a good thing!

LM

http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/stalking-criminality-the-law-and-women/
afguy

Yeah, middle son wrecked his car this weekend trying to drive home in a snowstorm, arthritis in my back is killing me from the cold, and the kindergarteners in Congress are just generally pissing me off.
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Guess the above was just therapeutic.
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Oh, ‘morning, sacredh. Don’t want to forget the niceties.
afguy

allthings,
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All in all, I would say that human rights, other than as a rhetorical instrument to be waved around in the right setting (and at certain, carefully chosen times), is pretty well at the bottom of the other priorities listed.
sacredh

You have my sympathies afguy. My son’s girlfriend totaled her truck a few days ago and did some major damage to the SUV she nailed. I spent a nice chunk of yesterday clearing out our driveway and the neighbor’s driveway. I’m still not fully recovered from the flu and looked like a snowman when I came back into the house. My son had to teach today and hadn’t moved his car for 2 days. I told him last night to set his alarm clock early because of all the snow we have. I went up this morning and heard his alarm go off…2 MINUTES early. He promptly ran his car into a 4 foot drift and buried it. He had to take my 4WD and I’m getting ready top go out and dig out his car.
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I can’t get the other car out because his is stuck between the two. F**k the niceties, but good morning to you too afguy. You don’t sound like you have any more use for them than I do right now.
allthingsinaname

Like you I woke up in a bad mood. But, I do not find much Humane about the GOP.
afguy

Sacredh: I don’t – NOT even slightly.
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I’ll give Obama the benefit of the doubt and say that he had good intentions at first. Unfortunately, he’s letting the “old hands” (Rahm and Axelrod) “show him the ropes” and they seem to be doing little except getting him tangled up in them.
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He who lives by “the process” dies by “the process”…
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It’s his fault for allowing it to happen. Anyone who plays with a snake and gets bit knew what the snake was to begin with.
afguy

Same here. And it looks like more of the same coming this weekend.
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Oh, joy…