Saturday 26 July 2008

The Monk meets McCain

From the WSJ

With the Beijing Olympics just two weeks away, Sen. John McCain brought China to the forefront of the foreign-policy debate Friday by meeting with the Dalai Lama.
I would dearly like to know why John McCain decided to meet with Dalai Lama at this point. Presumably, the McCain strategists crunched the data and came to the conclusion it would look good to American voters. Is he trying to project a more compassionate image? Is he trying to demonstrate his political will to be firm with China? Is it a bit of both? Is he really trying to drag America's relationship with China to the forefront of the presidential contest? I guess we'll never know for sure.

However, one thing is certain. This is a political stunt. With all the problems the US is grappling with at the moment, a Tibetan monk with negligent political power is not even close to being a big concern of the next US president, even if he does attract a lot of respect worldwide.

1 comment:

Knyaz said...

I hope the time will come when the American government will get busy improving their own system and cleaning their own house instead of dispersing energy by making everything their business. How much more could the world benefit from an America with humble leadership that acknowledges the fact that they don't know everything, looks out to the world and is careful about promoting their ideology as the only paradigm suitable for all countries with all kinds of cultural and historical backgrounds?
I wonder if it is ever possible to have this kind of self-reflective leadership in a country as rich and powerful as the US.