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I think I’m on board with what is probably a universally accepted belief in America this week: President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize was premature, possibly even undeserved. I’m not on board, however, with those who would tout this as an embarrassment for the president. If anything, it’s an embarrassment for the Nobel committee, because of their puzzling choice, and Obama is essentially a bystander.
An embarrassment is that our previous president had eight full years to earn himself a Peace Prize and couldn’t do it. He wasn’t prematurely awarded such recognition, but he did prematurely declare an end to major combat in Iraq. That was in 2003.
When our current president is considering a troop increase in Afghanistan, 8 years into the war, he’s not a peacemaker. When he gives speeches on the national stage, reaching out to those with whom our relationship has been strained it’s commendable, but it ain’t peace. When he’s got 3 years (maybe 7) to screw things up, it’s not time to dole out the Peace Prize.
At the same time, you can’t blame Obama. He didn’t lobby for this. He was probably more surprised than anyone to have gotten it! His critics will argue that he’s being recognized by a group of wimpy Europeans who have just bought into Obama-mania. Here in America, though, it’s safe to say the honeymoon is over. The Obama aura is pretty much gone, and we’re back to scratching each other’s eyes out. If Europe still has a crush on him, honestly, who cares? It could be worse (see: the past 8 years).
I think our president has the potential to achieve meaningful peace. He just hasn’t done it yet. After all, he’s still the new guy.
In the end, I think Obama’s undeserved win last Friday is less consequential than the Yankees’ undeserved win! I, personally, have spent more time agonizing over the fact that The Dark Knight didn’t receive the Best Picture nomination (and win) that it did deserve, than I care to spend on the Peace Prize our president got and didn’t deserve.
There’s my two cents
Marcus
I suggested the Nobel Peace Prize as a topic thinking that Marcus and I might have differing views. Evidently, not. But let me elaborate anyway.
The following is a listing of some of the previous Peace Prize recipients:
President Theodore Roosevelt for brokering a peace agreement between Japan and Russia.
President Woodrow Wilson for the Versailles Treaty after WWI and for promoting the League of Nations.
General George C. Marshall for efforts to rebuild war torn Europe after WWII (the Marshall Plan).
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. for leading the American Civil Rights movement.
Dr. Norman Borlaug (University of Minnesota) for crop research that led to the “green revolution” in developing nations.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for negotiating a peace treaty with Vietnam.
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin for reaching the first treaty between an Arab nation and Israel.
Lech Walesa for organizing and leading a workers union and advancing democratic reforms in communist-controlled Poland. Remember “solidarnosc?”
President Mikhail Gorbachev for instituting “glasnost” and “perestroika” – democratic reforms in the former Soviet Union.
Nelson Mandela for leading reconciliation after years of apartheid in South Africa.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for beginning the process toward peace between Israel and the Palestinian people.
President Barrack Obama. For what?
To borrow a phrase from the children’s program Sesame Street, “One of these names doesn’t belong with the others.”
That is my two cents.
Tim Penny
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