Lavish State Dinner for Hu Jintao (With Taiwanese Animation!)
[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; if you have tips, please send them here.]
This morning I read in the UK’s Guardian:
The White House is to throw a lavish reception for the Chinese leader, Hu Jintao, on Wednesday in an effort to patch up relations after a difficult year dominated by tensions over currency rates, jobs, North Korea and other international issues.
President Hu is due in Washington tomorrow for the start of a four-day visit, the highlight of which is to be a state dinner at the White House on Wednesday evening.
Hu is to go from Washington to Chicago on Thursday for two days. The mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, announcing details of the visit last week, including a gala dinner as well as trips to a Chinese car spare parts factory and a Chinese language school, reflected US excitement about the trip. “It is a big deal. Big, big, big, big. Big deal,” Daley said.
Given China’s pivotal role in the global economy and in foreign affairs, it is the most important state visit of the Obama presidency so far. Obama needs China’s help in turning the US economy round, particularly in creating jobs, and in resolving tensions on the Korean peninsula and exerting pressure on Iran.
Who is coming to dinner? Hu, that’s who!
Now part of this is of course due to the fact that Obama has put this nation more into hock with China than all the presidents before him. Raising the debt limit won’t help America very much if China doesn’t keep buying, you know? This whole situation was ridiculed by those Taiwanese animators:
The words “painfully funny” comes to mind.
But then it occurred to me how ridiculous this entire dinner is, if you imagine it from who’s Hu’s perspective. So let’s get this straight. We are going to borrow from China in order pay for a lavish dinner for… China. So does Mr. Hu look at all of this and marvel at the chutzpah of wasting so much of the money that we borrowed from them? Or does he laugh, taking this as the evidence that we are doomed as a nation?
Just askin’.
[Posted and authored by Aaron Worthing.]
I know that “Who’s on first” is about the cheapest joke you can make. Which is why i couldn’t resist.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 1/18/2011 @ 1:16 pmSo does Mr. Hu look at all of this and marvel at the chutzpah of wasting so much of the money that we borrowed from them? Or does he laugh, taking this as the evidence that we are doomed as a nation?
He won’t mind the money being spent because it is being spent to glorify him and China.
MayBee (081489) — 1/18/2011 @ 1:32 pmHe will take it as proof he can do whatever he wants and Obama will issue both a sternly worded letter that no one will see, and an invitation to be honored in our White House, which everyone will see.
maybee
and he will bow to him. maybe. Btw, it is a viscous lie to say Obama bowed to the king of Saudi Arabia. he bent his knee, so technically is was a curtsy.
(I ripped off that joke from IMAO, incidentally.)
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 1/18/2011 @ 1:36 pmFred Thompson said it best…
Scott Jacobs (218307) — 1/18/2011 @ 1:37 pmNotice our awesome mayor’s excellent language and verbal skills – I’m not a fan of Rahm, but at least the man can put two sentences together without sounding like a complete doofus. Daley’s done more to reinforce the “Super Fans” stereotype (from the SNL days) than anyone else from here – Da Bears.
Dmac (498ece) — 1/18/2011 @ 1:53 pmDMac beat me to it. Always glad to see an eloquent Daley quote.
Bearsss Ditka Sausage
carlitos (a3d259) — 1/18/2011 @ 1:55 pmfrom the article… “in an effort to patch up relations after a difficult year”
So what? The fundamentals are still the same and China isn’t going to do anything they don’t want to do because of how fancy a dinner it is.
And the leverage isn’t all on China’s side. If they don’t loan us money, we don’t buy Chinese-made goods and the billion of so of them who are in some way reliant on that income take to the streets against the government.
steve (369bc6) — 1/18/2011 @ 1:57 pmDa Prez is practicing bowing as low as possible, with a little help from his friends Neil & Bob.
Icy Texan (441ab5) — 1/18/2011 @ 2:03 pmThe link will be self-evident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuLsXHzE1t8
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 1/18/2011 @ 2:07 pm“If they don’t loan us money, we don’t buy Chinese-made goods”
steve – It is true that a lot of the Porkulus money, particularly in green energy, was spent on Chinese goods. Not sure how much other purchases from China are dependent on their loans, though.
daleyrocks (e7bc4f) — 1/18/2011 @ 2:11 pmmaybee
and he will bow to him. maybe.
Comment by Aaron Worthing — 1/18/2011 @ 1:36 pm
Already did. Pic is at top of Drudge as of the time of this post. And Hu standing straight, looking mightily pleased. Nice photo op for him.
What a moron we have for a President.
no one you know (325a59) — 1/18/2011 @ 2:16 pmWonder what Hu thinks of America monetizing it’s own debt. If someone told you in 1972 Red China would be arguably our biggest creditor and more fiscally prudent than the USA, you would never have believed it. As to those who say China wants to dominate us militarily, any good loanshark knows it’s better to bleed the mark, slow and steady, than kill him.
Bugg (9e308e) — 1/18/2011 @ 2:19 pmnoyk
the lamest moment was when he met the mayor of miami… and bowed to her. Which i guess means he doesn’t have much contact with asian americans. none of my in-laws have ever bowed to anyone or been bowed to by anyone.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 1/18/2011 @ 2:28 pmAW, one should always bow down to one’s betters – and in these cases, that’s more than self – evident.
Always glad to see an eloquent Daley quote.
Carlitos, I’m already missing Da Mayer’s explanation of why his inane gun control laws should be kept on the books, that press conference he held before it was summarily thrown out. “You want me to take this handgun and shove it up your butt? Do ya?” Most persuasive argument evah.
Dmac (498ece) — 1/18/2011 @ 2:35 pmthe lamest moment was when he met the mayor of miami
The more I think about this, the more it makes sense – after all, he’s already bowed down to one head of a banana republic (Chavez), might as well bow down to our own little one.
Dmac (498ece) — 1/18/2011 @ 2:36 pmDidn’t someone say we were going to improve our countries reputation around the world. So this is what other countries think of us. And it is an improvement how?
thomas (9f7b7f) — 1/18/2011 @ 2:49 pmIt’s like signing your $150,000 mortgage at the bank, while giving everyone present a $500 gift card to Tiffany’s. It’s just out of place.
The USA is broke. We do not have any money and are completely underwater with debt. We act like we aren’t broke, just as any idiot underwater with debt would be expected to act. We give the best presents and have the sweetest rims on our Escalade parked on the proverbial cul-de-sac of the developed world. Yet our neighbors do not respect us any more because of it.
Our incredibly generous aid to other nations doesn’t lead to much gratitude. Example: Turkey.
They recognize our aid as debt we put on the Mastercard we just paid off by doing a balance transfer to our Discover card. It’s a sign of weakness.
America should eliminate the regal presidency and return to what the entire concept of ‘president’ was supposed to be. A humble, professional servant, rather than a globe trotting MC Golfer.
I do not think Palin is nearly experienced enough to be President, so don’t misinterpret this thought: but she auctioned off the trappings of corrupt Alaska Governors. She probably would do the same for the White House, and that is a very important message we need to send the world.
We are out of money and need to get back on our feet for the sake of the next generation.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/18/2011 @ 2:59 pmThe White House is to throw a lavish reception for the Chinese leader, Hu Jintao, on Wednesday in an effort to patch up relations after a difficult year dominated by tensions over currency rates, jobs, North Korea and other international issues. . . . Given China’s pivotal role in the global economy and in foreign affairs, it is the most important state visit of the Obama presidency so far.
In other words, a perfect time for Hu to be met everywhere along the journey by protests against China’s suppression of dissidents, their lax environmental standards, their use of prison labor, their manipulation of their currency, and a host of other complaints that we have against that totalitarian state. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. The Obami would be very wise to try and dampen expectations for this state visit rather than inflating them.
JVW (4463d3) — 1/18/2011 @ 2:59 pmJVW, that is true. Good people will be motivated to protest these bastards. And yet, they own our government and will ignore us.
It’s not Obama’s fault alone, though he bears tremendous responsibility for the current situation. Ultimately, it’s Americans who are bolstering China with their generation long tolerance of debt happy democrats and RINOs. We are, however, waking up. The Tea Party is proof that America is still a great nation, and that’s the main reason the Tea Party is a bigger worry to the WH than China is.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/18/2011 @ 3:04 pmThat was actually the Mayor of Tampa, Iorio, but the point still obtains. Hu is probably only slightly less ticked off than his manque on SNL
narciso (6075d0) — 1/18/2011 @ 3:18 pmLet’s hope it goes better than this.
Scott (c982ed) — 1/18/2011 @ 4:53 pmI read that the WaPo reported Saturday that Obama is planning to press China on human rights during the visit despite the potential to further destabilize relations with the country. I’ll believe it when I see it. It’s hard to imagine him being courageous enough to bring it up. No doubt if he does, he’ll be prostrate before Hu the entire time.
Dana (8ba2fb) — 1/18/2011 @ 5:10 pmI’ll believe it when I see it. It’s hard to imagine him being courageous enough to bring it up.
Wasn’t it Obama who cancelled a (relatively informal) visit to the WH by the Dalai Lama because the Chinese got angry about it? (Part of my mind says it was Bush, which is why I’m uncertain.)
So I would expect him to bring up the subject only in the vaguest and most general terms. Maybe he’s tell Hu that if the Chinese improved their human rights record, they’d have better PR and therefore sell stuff in the US more easily….
kishnevi (859471) — 1/18/2011 @ 5:32 pmA list of those meeting Hu with protests at the WH as well as marching through D.C.,
*Geng He, the wife of Gao Zhiseng, a human-rights lawyer who has defended the underground Christian church in China and the Falun Gong movement (he has reported torture at the hands of secret police after taking on such cases, and has been missing since April).
*Chai Ling, a student leader in the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square who now runs a non-prof All Girls Allowed that battles the one-child policy in China and draws awareness to forced abortions that ensure compliance with the policy.
*Students for a Free Tibet
*Chinese, Tibetan, Uyghur, and Taiwanese human rights groups.
*Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders
*Harry Wu, who spent 19 years in forced labor camps for criticizing the Communist Party
I hope they’re vigorous in their protests and although I don’t think Hu will bat an eye (why should he?), I do hope it encourages and emboldens the young people in China to keep pushing back.
Dana (8ba2fb) — 1/18/2011 @ 5:33 pmNo, it was Obama who had the Dalai Lama ushered out past the trash.
Dana (8ba2fb) — 1/18/2011 @ 5:36 pmOn a lighter note, funny that the president of China is visiting just as the nation’s second most heated debate is whether or not Chinese mothers are superior.
Dana (8ba2fb) — 1/18/2011 @ 6:50 pmLavish.
Larry Reilly (ae99e7) — 1/18/2011 @ 6:52 pmGot it.
Lavish.
You mean lavish.
Gotta stress lavish.
Yeah, lavish.
Not like all those fish ‘n chips buffet state dinners througout the 2000s.
Right?
Your writing is, uh, lavish. Empty calories and all.
Did you get a tingle up your leg when you wrote that, Mawy?
JD (d4bbf1) — 1/18/2011 @ 7:13 pmI love the Larry Reily myth that Bush was this bad. Gotta bash Bush… doesn’t matter if it completely wrong and off topic, BUSH BUSH BUSH!!!
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/18/2011 @ 7:20 pmYou have to admit Larry has a point, since he took the time to look up lavish in the dictionary before posting.
OK, he doesn’t have a point, but he apparently now knows what lavish means in the sense that it’s better than his Mom’s TV tray.
Ag80 (e03e7a) — 1/18/2011 @ 7:29 pmIf Bush had golfed this much (which is simply an insane amount of golf for anyone who isn’t making a profession of it), or the ridiculous vacations, or the absurd party arrangements, I am quite sure Larry would say the exact opposite thing.
I remember just how ‘unprecedented’ the grandeur of their initial state dinner was. We’re out of money, and a lot of people want Obama to be their king. You didn’t see very many people lionize Bush in that particularly unAmerican manner.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/18/2011 @ 7:35 pmSelling China to America. It’s difficult to square this fluff with their human rights record. This is much easier on the eyes, though.
With China’s traditional red as the theme color, the 60-second video was shown on six screens simultaneously at Times Square with a billboard written “Experience China” on top of the screens. The show highlights Chinese ordinary people and some important figures recognized by the international community, including Chinese pianist Lang Lang, basketball player Yao Ming and Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei, etc.
The video is part of the public diplomacy campaign by the Chinese government ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s U.S. state visit. The video will be shown at Times Square 15 times every hour from 6 am to 2 am next day, totaling 20 hours and 300 times a day. It will last till Feb. 14 with a total of 8,400 times of show time.
Dana (8ba2fb) — 1/18/2011 @ 9:50 pm_______________________________________
I didn’t even realize that Obama a bit less than a year ago was guilty of doing one of his totally inappropriate, bad-etiquette, servant-type bows before China’s prime minister. Until today I was only aware of the president’s foolish bowing mainly in front of the King of Saudi Arabia and the Emperor of Japan.
^ If many Americans believe their country at this moment in its history is headed in a downward trajectory, the figurehead who’ve they placed in its top political office is somehow very appropriate, very fitting.
Mark (411533) — 1/18/2011 @ 10:19 pmHave you watched today’s press conference with the two leaders? It was quite funny when the Chinese president avoided to answer the question about human rights and then put it down to the bad organization of the translating process.
Jay Banks (af7dc7) — 1/19/2011 @ 2:00 pm