Dalai Lama says he would be a lousy US president

[October 14, 2010]  EAST PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) -- What if the Dalai Lama was president of the United States?

The 75-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner laughed at the notion and told Northern California middle and high school students on Wednesday that things would be even more grim if he was America's leader.

He says simply, "Within a few weeks, the economy would face bankruptcy."

The San Francisco Chronicle says the spiritual leader of Tibet is making several Bay Area appearances this week.

Sitting in an overstuffed green chair in the Costano School auditorium, the Dalai Lama confided to more than 400 students that he was a lazy teenager who hated to study and considered his unsmiling teacher a bore.

He also challenged them to choose between a more peaceful, compassionate future or one of more destruction, saying, "It's entirely up to you."

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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/

[Associated Press]

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