Reading many of the diaries and articles about the Nobel Prize announcement today has made me realize just how far we've come - and not in a good way - in the last eight years. Perhaps those years have so clouded our vision to dismiss Obama's huge contributions towards peace as "some speeches." Words are very powerful, they are the cheapest of weapons, but they can be more effective than the most costly ones.
Martin Luther King the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize did many things for the Civil Rights movement in America and the World, but he is most famous for his "I had a dream" speech. Rather than a list of Martin Luther King's actions with an accompanying chart of the varying efficacy of those actions, it is this speech that is read year after year in many classrooms around Martin Luther King day. Abraham Lincoln is famously remembered for his Gettysburg Address. JFK is famous for his "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Although our, and the world's, history is a legacy of words here we are with a President (finally) who wields them well and uses them to mobilize, inspire, and bring about consensus in the world and instead of thinking "well that makes sense" when he wins the Nobel Peace Prize - we're surprised? shocked?
I'll admit I was surprised at first as well, but the more I have read reactions to the NPP and the more I've thought about what I have heard and seen from Obama, the more I think it makes sense. Back in January, I found it very ironic and laughable when the media "complained" that there weren't any "memorable soundbytes" in Obama's inaugural address... I thought maybe they weren't seeing the forest for the trees because there were simply too many. One of my very favorites, was his statement to the old 'axis of evil' and other despotic nations that America is "willing to extend it's hand if you are willing to unclench your fist"... those were powerful words aiming for peace. Isn't that what Obama has been doing on the world stage - extending his (and by extension our) hand? When did we forget that this is what diplomacy IS? A SLOW process, but at the end you're much better off than when you started. "Overnight" diplomacy is probably not something anyone on this site would feel comfortable with. This is not because the President isn't good at diplomacy, but because the conflicts in the world are complex... if they were easy to sort out we would have resolved them decades ago. In the cause of peace, I'd also like to note that with his Presidency, and despite numerous other domestic issues he is trying to manage at home, Obama has not reneged on his commitment to Non-Proliferation - a cause he worked for as a Senator. Sure, he has not eradicated nuclear weapons, but so far the President has been USING his words and speeches to win people to his cause - as many Nobel Peace Laureates before him did with their causes. Additionally, he has already done some things to further those aims, like not budgeting for replacement nuclear weapons in this country. When considering whether this award was deserved or not - we shouldn't lose site that words are some of the most powerful instruments we have, and already Obama HAS used them to further Peace in the world.
P.S. A previous diarist noted that each Peace Prize should be considered in it's own context and they should not be analyzed relatively. I firmly disagree - I think one would need to have the universe of data on previous Nobel Peace Prizes awarded and other nominees in order to really know enough about what the award "means" or "represents" to judge whether this particular awarding is deserved or not. Thinking this way made me realize how little I (and perhaps others?) know about the Nobel Peace Prize's history and application. Many of us could probably only name five to ten honorees even though the award has been around for over a hundred years. THis led me to conclude that this latest firestorm over Obama's Nobel Peace Prize is actually not about the "Nobel Peace Prize" at all, but is a platform we are all using to comment about how we think Obama is doing. So - I'll leave you with this - if you don't have an equally thoughtful and reasoned analysis about whether or not last year's winner or the year before that was deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize - then I think it's time we (including me) stop talking about this one.
We should, however, all KEEP talking about the causes we hold dear and how Obama is delivering or not-delivering on those :)