He hopes it is a good sign that Bush has kept on his staff a special coordinator for Tibetan issues, despite the elimination of several similar posts. I have not yet met the president personally, so we'll see. I think he will simply follow the previous administration's policy. The Dalai Lama moves fluidly from discussing religion to politics, ideology to spirituality. He can joke about matters even as serious as socialism.
Some people dislike that.
For emphasis, his translator, Thupten Jinpa, laughingly says people repeatedly ask His Holiness not to make that statement. The Dalai Lama laughs, too, occasionally touching the orange prayer beads around his left wrist, and often punctuating his comments by vividly talking with his hands. When I say I have some favor of Marxism, it is not the totalitarian, rigid, violent one. Rather, it is an affinity for an equal distribution of wealth, and special care for the needy. Capitalism is how to make a profit, and nothing else.