Obama and the Lama

After reading about Obama’s one-hour meeting with the Dalai Lama last week, I sat there pondering what in the world the two could have talked about.

Dalai Lama: I recall your victory speech at Chicago’s Grant Park—good speech.
Obama: Why thank you. Uhhh, I've heard that green tea from the high mountains of Tibet is excellent.
Dalai Lama: Yes...
59 minutes of awkward silence)
Obama: Well, it was great seeing you, and I hope to see you again in four years because then it means I’ve been reelected.

OK, that’s probably not what the two talked about, but I think this is a good summary of what passed between the former and current Nobel Prize winners: absolutely nothing substantial. It wouldn't be the first time...

Lama to George W. Bush: Maybe the Texas Rangers will win it all this year!
Lama to Bill Clinton: It’s a shame I can’t eat beef, because I sure want to try that McDonald’s Big Mac you recommended.
Lama to George H.W. Bush: I’ve been invited to many homes, and I have to say that yours is the nicest!

The Dalai Lama has been to see each president since George H.W. Bush, who is responsible for initiating this useless and counterproductive tradition. The Tibetan figurehead has treaded the middle line for decades, carefully distancing himself from the violent rebellion in Tibet in 2008 while loudly calling for increased autonomy, but he has never called and never will call for independence. America has always respected the integrity of China’s geographical boundary, which includes Tibet. So why did Obama meet the lama in spite of strenuous protests from America’s most intimate trade partner and biggest creditor?

Does the president not have anything better to do? Health care reform, immigration reform, Afghanistan, and unemployment rates are all issues that voters care more about than some place few Americans can find on the map. Does the average jobless family in Detroit care about Tibet?

I’m guessing that when Obama looked at his schedule on the day of the lama meeting, it probably said: “9 O’clock: Meet with Dalai Lama and piss off China.”

The Dalai Lama is a moderate; a moderate and soft-spoken man is all he is. I mean, God/Buddha bless him, but has he actually changed anything in Tibet? Chinese control of Tibet has only tightened over the last few decades, and it is increasingly clear that China considers a meeting between the U.S. president and the Dalai Lama to be an insult.

I just wish the government could see the political consequences of its gesture, because that’s really all the meeting is: a gesture. The meetings are always hush hush and brief, and nothing concrete has ever come out of them. But future cooperation between the United States and China is vital in every aspect, from politics to the world economy to the military. There are direct negative consequences from this one-hour meeting that has not produced, does not produce and will never produce any changes in Chinese policy. China has already backed out of helping the United States corral Iran, and the Chinese military is closing its curtains again just as the two powers began working on military transparency. Why strain a potential world-leading partnership? I think if some future president decides to stop the meetings, China will be grateful and give back in the form of a little more autonomy for the Tibetans.

DAN KANG