Welcoming and hosting dictators in the US, and bringing them into the White House is... problematic.
Um...has there been a president since before FDR who didn't host a dictator at the White House?
Also, having a hostile foreign leader tour the country can be a massive PR coup, whether it was Khrushchev in the 50s or Ahmadinejad in the 00s. It gives the US a chance to show off to a foreign leader's face.
But not all dictators are the same. The North Korean regime experiences a rare level of international isolation, to the point where getting a face to face meeting with any Western leader (let alone the president of the United States) is something of a PR coup for
them. That’s why they were willing to trade prisoners for a visit from former Pres. Bill Clinton in the past.
So regardless of what Obama said during the 2008 campaign, I don’t actually see him being willing to personally meet with Kim Jong Un without some kind of concession from the North Koreans. That’s not to say that he wouldn’t be allowed into the country. Since the UN is in New York, I guess they kind of have to let any foreign head of government in. But would Obama meet with him while he was there? I don’t think so. Nor do I think Hillary Clinton would do it. Trump…who knows. He says he would, but I have no idea.
Same goes for Bashar Assad, for that matter. Setting aside the fact that Assad may not want to visit a Western country for fear of prosecution for war crimes, I don’t see either Obama or Clinton agreeing to meet with him face to face.
