This is what happens when Washington goes on spending sprees and borrows a ton of money from China, and our president is afraid of the international community. Apparently the president of the United States can’t even meet openly with an exiled religious leader driven out of his home by Communists. Unsettling.

WASHINGTON (AP) – For all of its talk about transparency, the White House shut out the press Thursday when President Barack Obama met with the Dalai Lama.

Instead, Obama met privately with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader in the Map Room on the ground floor of the White House, far removed from reporters and photographers. Press secretary Robert Gibbs issued only a brief statement after the event, and the White House distributed a single in-house photo of the two leaders.

In case you’re wondering, yes, there are many pictures of President Bush with the Dalai Lama. Here they are laughing. And again. And here’s the spiritual leader accepting the Congressional Medal of Honor with Bush, Pelosi, and Byrd. A more serious meeting here. They’re looking up here.

But now with Barack Obama in the White House? The Dalai Lama is reduced to a single picture, no media, and exiting past the trash. What a brave, classy leader we have.