OpEd:
Rationally Analyzing Obama’s Nobel Prize
October 9, 2009 by Kyle BradyTags: America, Nobel Peace Prize, Obama, Politics, World Politics
As required by the FTC, a Full Disclosure is available - this piece adheres to the Code of Ethics
Editorial Note: this is a special Friday edition of the OpEd column - thanks to the Nobel Peace Prize.
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President Barack Obama received a Nobel Peace Prize today – that should be obvious to anyone that’s been awake within the last 12 hours.
What’s important, though, is exactly what the Nobel Peace Prize is and the disgusting reaction of many people.
The Nobel Peace Prize is not always given to someone for great accomplishment, but is sometimes given to someone who is trying to affect great change for the better in the face of obvious and heated opposition - according to its founder:
"to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses"
-Alfred Nobel, Last Will and Testament
Does that sound at all familiar? Within the first nine months of Obama’s presidency, he’s taken steps to remove all American troops from Iraq; close down the Guantanamo Bay prison facility; procure universal healthcare for the American people; remove cultural, political, and religious bias from public policy; and a litany of other feats both peaceable in nature and epic in scope. Not many of these action items have been accomplished, but politics is a lengthy process and not even a year has passed since his Inauguration.
All of these actions that President Obama has taken have been in the face of great adversity and opposition – not a single interview can be given, nor can a press release be published, without the default contradiction, accusation, lies, vilification, and anger coming forth from FOX "News" and those Republicans that bend to its tactics. This includes almost all Congressional Republicans, a good number of state Governors, and anyone that’s been protesting or disseminating propaganda against the health of their fellow citizens over the course of the last few months.
Now the picture should be considerably clearer.
When President Obama is compared to his predecessor, George W. Bush, the reasons for which the world-at-large embraces him with such open arms becomes immediately obvious. From outside America’s borders, Obama has been a welcome breath of fresh air to the majority of countries, allies and enemies alike, for not only his personality, but also his policy on any and all subjects - despite what some would call his lack of accomplishments, the mere fact that he has such great and high-minded intentions is reason enough for them to celebrate.
If the newest Nobel Laureate were to have accomplished as much as his detractors laugh at him for “failing to achieve”, then President Obama would not be so great a politician and national figurehead as he is – the Patriot Act, the Iraq War, and numerous other Bush-era pieces of legislation were rushed through Congress by the whip of the then-current President, and to what great accomplishment? The loss of worldwide respect? Spying on American citizens without reason or even warrants? A failed war that has existed for years longer than necessary?
President Obama does not wish to corrupt the political system any further than it already is – Congress does not need his help with bowing to the wishes and needs of others with power. He does not even wish to stoop to Bush’s level, preying on the fears of the American people, to accomplish what is so obviously right and necessary. Instead, he wishes to strengthen the political process, renew the world’s faith in America, and, most importantly, renew America’s faith in themselves.
The receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize was apparently a shock to President Obama, and he carefully accepted the honor as supporting his intentions and ideals rather than what he has so far accomplished. Given the current state of American politics, it is entirely possible that external forces sought to lend a hand and give credence to a man that is only trying to do what is proper in a country that appears to be unable to help itself, even in the worst of times.
President Obama’s award is not a recognition of a lack of accomplishments, but rather a “Thank You” and “Goodluck” from the world to an American President that, for once, seems to have everyone’s future in mind.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.
