Thursday, November 26, 2009

The Obama Visit

Obama came to China last week and I have no idea what actually happened. Lots of pundits have lots of opinions, and there is nothing like an opinion from some ill informed, narrow minded political writer (from all political spectrums) to give a skewed idea of what actually went on. For viewing, we had a couple of boring public appearances and some behind the scenes talking and maybe a couple of smokes, too.
At least he didn’t get caught on camera slouching and fiddling with a little flag like a bored 10 year old, like W did during the Olympics, and he didn’t barf on anybody. There are no nukes flying, and the note wasn’t called in on all that debt, so it can’t all be bad.
Some of the positive things that did happen are these:
1. Increased Military-to-Military Contact and High Level Military Exchanges. This means that the top brass are communicating with each other better so that we don’t end up with another war. With our big old navies playing around, it’s a good idea in case someone accidentally bumps into the other, we can get to the bottom of things.
2. They did discuss some human rights issues, although our country has lost a little of the moral high ground on this issue in recent years.
3. They also started laying groundwork on cleaning up the environmental messes our two nations make.
Some cool things could have gone on behind the scenes. Gifts are usually exchanged. Obama could have brought Hu some tonic water, Tillamook cheddar and some hickory smoked bacon. Oh, and some Jimmy Dean sausage! You can get Cuban cigars here. Maybe Hu slipped the Pres a couple, along with some bootleg copies of the latest Christmas release movies.