Hi Everyone,
By now you have probably heard that President Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. I guess he will be going back to Scandinavia again. This time with a more successful story line.
It is extremely telling that the Nobel committee compared awarding the prize to Obama to their award to Gorbachev. They see Obama's presidency in the context of the over throw of a tyrannical system - namely Bush's approach to world politics.
This award is certainly as much a slap in the face of George W. Bush and his approach to foreign policy as it is a recognition anything Obama has accomplished in the first several months of his presidency. As such, it will drive Republicans UP THE WALL. There will be a chorus of complaints about how Obama isn't really serving American interests but the interests of lilly livered lefties who would give aid and comfort to "terrists."
8 comments:
I'm flummoxed. I mean, don't you have to do something?
I am waiting for Robert Gibbs to say, "well, he went to scandinavia to get the Olympics. This will have to do, I guess."
I can't imagine this makes the decision on sending troops to Afghanistan any easier. On the letters home to the parents of dead soliders, do you sign it, "B. Obama, Nobel Peace Prize Winner '09"?
I think we take them at their word when they say it is for diplomatic efforts. His immediate and more open approach to the Middle East, especially Iran, has made possible diplomatic developments that would have non-starters under Bush. This is European elites expressing their pleasure at having a functioning ally in the United States again.
In a sense this speaks of the continued importance of the United States in world affairs. Europe is still highly dependent on the United States for accomplishing the policy goals that they and, for the most part, the United States want. When the US foreign policy is based on arrested adolescence and militarism, it makes it impossible for Europe to achieve anything. They are so THRILLED to have a serious leader in charge here that they got all squiffy and gave him a medal.
Here is what Andrew Sullivan thinks:
"If any person has done more to advance some measure of calm, reason and peace in this troubled word lately, it's president Obama. I think the Cairo speech and the Wright speech alone merited this both bridging ancient rifts even while they remain, of course, deep and intractable. He has already done more to bridge the gulf between the West and Islam than anyone else on the planet.
I'd just add one caveat: the American people who elected him deserve part of the credit too. Now he needs partners to help him."
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/10/sully-obama-peace-prize-reax.html
Nobody cares what Andrew Sullivan thinks. =)
I mention him only because he is a moderate conservative and what I would consider to be a "reasonable" Republican.
He's gay. This means he is nowhere near a normal or reasonable Republican. He's a guy who pretends to be a republican to make a niche for himself, the gay conservative commentator.
Henry Kissinger - after bombing and destroying all of Cambodia, which created a Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot - was award the Pece Prize in 1973.
Post a Comment