No Presidential Hello for Dali Lama
- Oct 13, 2009 -
While President Barack Obama humbly received news that he would be awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize recently, he decided to put off a meeting with the Dali Lama this week.
The president intends to meet with the exiled Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, whom Rep. Frank Wolf called a "man of peace," after he travels to China for meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Obama is apparently concerned the Chinese won't play nice if he formally acknowledges the Dali Lama, who is in D.C. this week to receive a human rights award from Congress.
On his weekly radio program, Richard Land Live!, the ERLC's Richard Land said while President Obama is willing to meet with world leaders who are hostile to the U.S., such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his decision to not meet with the Dali Lama is unsettling:
In a Baptist Press story Richard Land suggests its business as usual for the the Nobel prize committee–they are playing politics in giving the award to a U.S. president who has not yet been on the job 12 months.
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