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Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
This morning, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize was President Barack Obama. The decision was a weird one. Whoever nominated him did so ahead of the February 1 deadline, which was Mr. Obama' s 12th day in office. While he has tackled a great many things since taking the oath, there wasn't much to show for the first couple of weeks. The Obamas had barely moved into the White House, and they hadn't adopted Bo the Dog yet. Many of his detractors say he's done nothing to deserve it, while his supporters believe he will earn in ex post facto. This journal believes both sides are taking the award too seriously given some past winners.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awards the Peace Prize, while the Swedish side hands out everything else. It's a holdover from when the two nations were under a single crown. However, one is certain that the streets of Stockholm and Uppsala are filled with Norwegian jokes today (of course, a nation that stayed out of both world wars, produces Volvos and gave the world ABBA shouldn't get too full of itself). Under any set of criteria, this was plain strange. After all, Mr. Obama is overseeing two wars at the moment, inherited wars to be sure, but still.
The press release read in part:
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.
The White House was caught flatfooted here. Mr. Obama was suitable humble in his 11 am press statement. "This award is not simply about my administration," he said. It "must be shared" with everyone who strives for "justice and dignity." Now, 10 million kroner, split 6 billion ways . . . .
Truthfully, some of the past choices for this award are mind-boggling. Terrorists Yasser Arafat and Menachem Begin didn't deserve it any more than Al Capone merited a good citizenship award. Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho prolonged the Vietnam War with their idiotic "diplomacy" and are responsible for thousands of deaths as a result. Frankly, Mr. Obama said he didn't think he deserved to be in such company, and in the cases of those four, he is certainly correct. Be that as it may, his detractors can take comfort in one small thing. He's going to Oslo to pick up the award, in December. Not even the accolades of President of the United States and Nobel Laureate can make the town any brighter or warmer then.
© Copyright 2009 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.
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