President Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for his accomplishments. But, the talking heads of tvland are scratching their heads, trying to get their gray haired gray matter going, and right wing partisans immediately jumped on Obama, claiming he has no accomplishments to justify such an award.
Perhaps these people should take a clue from the title: Peace Prize. Obama is leading the American people toward a more peaceful place in the world. He crafted and broadcast a message of American responsibility that had been lacking for decades, and he built a coalition that sees our country as a leading nation in the peaceful cooperation to resolve world problems. He turned the goal of this country from one of bullying the world through war and the threat of war into one that will work with other countries to reduce conflict. And, he did this by enlisting the support of the majority of the American people.
We can expect neocons to cry foul. What’s surprising is the degree to which others have jumped on board.
From Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation:
The Nobel Committee did him no favors by giving him the award before he had anything to show for his efforts.
From Meet the Press:
David Gregory: Did he deserve this?
Paul Gigot: Did he deserve it? Well, of course, he didn’t deserve it....
Bob Woodward: Now, I think it’s absolutely true: Let’s look at results. Clearly, the committee that awards these prizes wanted to stick it to George W. Bush....
Woodward, in fairness, goes on to point out that Obama shifted the debate from strong-arming allies to engaging them, and Katty Kay noted as much.
Ron Brownstein said, “The award is probably more of a problem for the Nobel Committee than it is for the President.... It will be seen as more of a political nibbling around the edge.” He went on to say that people said they were voting for Obama because “they thought he would change America’s image in the world [and] this is a tangible reflection of that fact.”
Winning election to the highest office in the U.S. on a platform of engaging the world, rather than continuing the militarism and exceptionalism of the Bush Administration, is apparently no accomplishment in political punditdum. Well, I say it is an enormous accomplishment, fully deserving of the Nobel Prize, and it culminated in November of 2008, long before the committee took its vote. This is not a prospective prize or an encouragement for future achievement. It represents someone leading us toward peace.
That’s precisely why Rush Limbaugh was apoplectic. “...The elites of the world are urging Obama ... to basically continue his intentions to emasculate the United States.” The Nobel committee is rubbing salt into the wounds of the right wing because voters repudiated their strategy of a dominant America. Oh, how it must hurt to have the world validate our strategy of engagement! How terrible it must be to have the angry minority that thinks the U.S. can operate without regard to anyone else on this crowded planet rejected by the vast majority of humanity! And, on the political side, how this weakens them, because when we engage we get results.
But, the howling on the right comes at some cost. When they attack the President for not being worthy of this honor, they are really attacking the people who supported him. This award was about the American people as much as about Obama. It was our reward for shaking off the infantile anger following the 9/11 attacks and the infantile raging response, and growing up a bit as a country. The accomplishment is that of the American people, in their triumph of getting over their hurt pride to back sensible policy. And, Obama’s accomplishment is to direct and focus that energy for a better world. That is an accomplishment we are already experiencing, not one to be hoped for in the future.