**** Heads Up: President Obama Welcomes President Hu to the White House, Live 9am EST ****

[Clio the Leo]

This is an official state visit with lots of pomp and circumstance and tea party patriots! ... I mean, a band dressed in Revolutionary era uniforms playing fifes. :)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/president-obama-welcomes-president-hu-china-white-house

http://cspan.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN2/

http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream2

[Clio the Leo]

1. This is a sight to behold...

.... and who says Obama doesn't believe in "American Exceptionalism"? He's got it all over his back yard.

[Clio the Leo]

2. visiting dignitaries always arrive in OUR cars...

.... WH limos are used to ferry them around town.

Meaning the US President is the only world leader to TAKE his car with when he flies internationally. Crazy.

[Clio the Leo]

3. Not sure why the GOP picked today to hold the repeal vote...

.... obviously I know it was pushed back from last Wed. But their gonna lose the news cycle today.

[elleng]

22. May not have realized, and may not WANT news cycle on this issue

any more!!!

[Clio the Leo]

29. only their base would notice, good point. nt

[Clio the Leo]

4. Little kids in the rope line reaching past the the Chinese Pres to shake hands w/Obama...

.... 'cause they dont know HU the Chinese Pres. is! (ok, that's the ONLY one I'm doing)

And, as usual, they're jumping up and down and screaming like they're at a Justin Beiber concert. .... and now, so are the visiting Chinese adults.

[Clio the Leo]

6. the kids are there because...

.... they're studying Chinese in school. (and I thought Spanish was hard!)

[supernova]

5. Squee! Meeting the crowd behind the rope!

:D

[nmbluesky]

18. Sasha Obama was there

She is with her classmate behind the rope..

[Clio the Leo]

27. oh how that is cute!

Of COURSE Barack Obama's daughter is learning Chinese, I'm surprised she's not already fluent in it. :)

[Clio the Leo]

28. And here is another view...

[Clio the Leo]

7. And here come the tea party enthusiasts!

.... playing their fifes! #unity :)

[RichGirl]

13. I wish their was a time machine....

I'd love to send them all back in time to the days of our founders. They would be shocked at how socialist they were!

[Clio the Leo]

15. lol very true. nt

[Clio the Leo]

8. Apparently there isn't a Mrs. Hu, or she doesn't like to fly :-) nt

[Clio the Leo]

9. POTUS: "Chinese economic success has meant benefits to us as well..."

lol yeah.

[Union Scribe]

21. Ugh.

[Clio the Leo]

10. Obama cites "the universal rights of every human being"

with the Chinese President right there beside him.

[Clio the Leo]

11. Hu: "since Obama has been in office, our relationship has seen real progress." nt

[Clio the Leo]

12. He keeps emphasizing the importance of mutual respect and...

.... working TOGETHER. Wonder why?

[butterfly77]

33. Lol!

:rofl:

[Jeneral2885]

14. Obama's speech was riddled with Human Rights

and typical discourse. When will America ever learn that human rights does not always equal to development? Years of such promotion has not changed African countries or other least developing countries. And no western nation is the gatekeeper of human rights.

China, while lacking in the definition of Western Human Rights, has made largeser advances in green technology and sustainable development than say the US. So who is really stronger in Human Rights in the long term?

[monmouth]

16. Great post and welcome to DU! An interesting question...n/t

[ProSense]

17. "When will America ever learn that human rights does not always equal to development? "

Kerry op-ed

<...>

Let me be clear: getting this relationship right doesn't mean papering over significant differences on thorny issues like human rights, but it does require not allowing disagreements to obscure positive developments. In fact, we need to consolidate and build upon existing areas of cooperation.

The recent resumption of military-to-military dialogue is an absolutely critical step in building strategic trust. I hope that Presidents Hu and Obama will pledge to insulate these conversations from disruption. It's precisely in times of tension, whether over Taiwan arms sales or an incident at sea, that our military officers need to be talking.

President Obama will also be seeking greater cooperation to increase job-creating trade and investment. China made significant commitments to protect intellectual property last month, but its undervalued currency remains a concern. Congress is growing increasingly impatient, and absent sustained progress, will likely take matters into its own hands.

Heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula will undoubtedly feature prominently during Hu's trip. The North's development of nuclear weapons and long range ballistic missiles undermines Chinese and American core interests in regional peace and stability. Because China exerts outsized influence as North Korea's only ally, close U.S.-China cooperation on this issue is essential to restrain the North and facilitate the resumption of results-oriented multilateral negotiations to bring lasting peace to a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.

Another area where both countries must work together more closely is on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and field green technologies. China made strides in recent multilateral negotiations to make its commitments more measurable, reportable, and verifiable. The upcoming summit can have a catalytic effect on efforts to achieve further breakthroughs in developing clean energy.

<...>

I think the President knows this, but wouldn't he be accused of ignoring human rights if it wasn't mentioned in his speech? Human rights is an extremely important issue.

[Jeneral2885]

19. As I've mentioned

the usual chant of human rights by the US and other Western nations has no correlations with development or any significant change. While I'm not always a supporter of the author, Ha-Joon Chang's books <i>Kicking Away the ladder</i> and <i>Bad Samritarians</i> shows how much Human Rights were lacking in democratic countries until the mid 20th Century. And yes it's all nice to have the right to freedom and such, and look where it is for America. People (and I'm not mentioning names)talking about getting armed and overthrowing the government. Talk about don't infrinnge on my free speech. No government etc etc. And more seriously, no action on Climate Change. Across the Pacific, yes Liu Xiabo may be in prison but the Chinese have made greater efforts in combating Climate Change than any <b>Democrat or Republican</b> Presidency has.

[ProSense]

20. No one said it did.

No one who believes China has a poor human rights record believes that the country isn't experiencing tremendous development.

[elleng]

23. Zackly, imagine the hollering if human rights NOT mentioned.

[Jeneral2885]

24. And

that would be much better. Pushing agendas would mena less cooperation over other issues like North Korea or even the yuan.

Point being, why must the US push the Human Rights discourse all the time? And its not just the hypocrisy, its the fialure to understand institutions-rules and norms of other socieities.

[ProSense]

25. Seriously,

hypocrisy is a trait of all nations. Some Americans understand the rules and norms of other societies better than others.

[elleng]

30. Sure, Pro, some Americans understand, in fact, prolly many do,

but does not mean we remain silent/withdraw from issues, imo.

[elleng]

31. And first question at Presser!!!

[Jeneral2885]

32. What issues

the promotion of human rights has come alomng side destructive policies like the Washington Consensus. The the fast advancement of Human Rights is doubtful givenhow it has materialised now in America--people crying the right to arm themselves and over throw the government. I'm not sure if other countries and societies would want that.

[nmbluesky]

26. see you know why China President Hu wasn't happy with Bush