February 2010, the Dalai Lama exits the White House
Via The DC
The Dalai Lama got a frosty closed-door reception from President Barack Obama Feb. 21, one day after he got a public bear-hug from the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
The world’s most famous Buddhist returned the conservatives’ respect by offering a compliment for the AEI’s civic-minded capitalism.
“After to listen [sic] yesterday and to the presenters today, I developed more respect about capitalism,” the Dalai Lama told AEI president Arthur Brooks Feb. 20 during a friendly panel discussion on “happiness, free enterprise, and human flourishing.”
The contrast between Brooks’ warmth and Obama’s ice may help conservatives’ to earn some respect, perhaps even credibility, among the many young Americans and Europeans who see the Dalai Lama as a noble soul amid a world of crass commercial culture.
The Dalai Lama is a frequent and popular speaker on the campus circuit, and in many multicultural festivals. A few kind words from him, and a few sets of ears may open for Brooks.
Brooks has been working to unite conservatives’ free-market and Christian-infused civic ideas, and to reconcile the GOP’s discordant crony-capitalist and family wings, and he was eager to enlist the Dalai Lama’s aid.