I am tired of those who deem to turn the President’s winning of this great award, the Nobel Peace Prize, into something negative and ugly. I hear people in the media and in this community attempting to turn the honor of this award received by the President as a liability. How dare they?!
During the campaign, the Right and the media turned the worldwide popularity of the President into a negative thing—how he’s become a celebrity, because he attracts people by the inspiration of his message. Yes, for him to be able to draw a huge crowd is ugly and negative, at the same time, the Right trumpeted just how popular Sarah Palin was, simply by the amount of people who turned out to her rallies. For Sarah it’s good, for Obama it’s bad.
Last week, when he failed to convince the Olympic Committee to allow its games to be hosted by Chicago, there were many who celebrated, cheered at the exhilarating thought that Barack Obama has lost to the international community; some even commented that the world community "rejected Barack Obama."
This morning Rush Limbaugh suggested that the President’s winning of this award is more embarrassing than his losing the Olympic Games, and MSNBC’s Savannah Guthrie, suggested that this might back fire on the President with independent voters because of some thought that he is too cozy with Europeans. Are you kidding me?
I remember sometime in April, how Barack Obama stood before 75,000 people in Prague and asked that the world joined with him to achieve a nuclear free world. That was a spectacle beyond belief, and he has done the same in Turkey and Egypt. And back home he has pursued talks with Iran, despite the Right’s insistence that he adopt a more combative, perhaps even military, strategy. And although, the Congress has voted against his efforts, he has made the bold step to close GITMO.
The President did not seek out this award, and he should not be made to feel guilty for winning it. Anyone who suggest that the President does not deserve this award speak to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, who determined based on its own requirements, as they have done for many many years, without this same groundswell of criticism that he is deserving to be so honored. As they have stated:
"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population."
I could see by the President’s appearance this morning that he was acutely aware that there were many who regarded this award as an outrage, and by his tentative manner, seemed almost ashamed. It is unbelievable what is going on here, despicable and quite wrong. Congratulations, Mr. President.
Statement by Nobel Prize Committee
http://news.bbc.co.uk/...