Norwegians Saddle Barack Obama With Their Nobel "Peace Prize"
Uhh, okay: Barack Obama just won the Nobel Peace Prize, because apparently commanding two wars is not a disqualifier for that these days. Also, as you may have noticed, Barack Obama has been president for nine (9) months. What is going on?
Thorbjorn Jagland, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and a former prime minister of Norway, told reporters that Mr. Obama had already contributed enough to world diplomacy and understanding to deserve the prize.
Asked whether the prize was given too early in Mr. Obama’s presidency, he said: "We are not awarding the prize for what may happen in the future but for what he has done in the previous year. We would hope this will enhance what he is trying to do."
Oh, Thorbjorn. I hate to break it to you, but this is America, not Norway. We don't eat fermented trout; we eat high fructose corn syrup. More importantly, your "peace prize" will have precisely the opposite effect in terms of "enhancing what Barack Obama is trying to do," because now instead of talking about health care or Afghanistan we will spend the forseeable future bickering about whether or not Barack Obama should have won your "peace prize," and on top of that we will have the Kanye West parodies. "Barack, I'm really happy for you, and I'ma let you finish, but Morgan Tsvangirai is one of the best Zimbabwean prime ministers of all time," gah, those jokes alone will drag into January.
Anyway, thanks a bunch for the extra dollop of anger and conflict, Norway! Maybe one of you could come over here and resolve it for us? I hear there's a prize for that sort of thing.
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The poor man can't get a break, can he! I'm not happy with the way the economy or the health care debate is going (I am unemployed and health care-less). Although I'm happy a bunch of Al'Quaeda operatives have been caught, I wonder about some of the methods used. Still – things have changed, steps have been taken forward. Why not give the guy the nobel peace prize? It isn't like the other people in the running this year can't be acknowledge next year. It's not like he got the last one. We, as a nation, should be proud that in the last nine months a good portion of the rest of the world has gone from hating us to thinking that maybe we aren't all such bad guys. And whose doing is that? Maybe that does deserve an award – he got the rest of the world talking with us. He elevated the discuss from "bomb the brown people in the desert" to "shouldn't we stop torture, stop nuclear proliferation (in our own country as well as others), take care of our own people's health and well being, and in general, stop acting like assholes?" Really, looking back at where we were a year ago that alone is no small feat. What kind of nation have we become that we can't even be happy that our president was recognized not only for what he has done but what is trying to do: make the world a better place?
I am skeptical and worried that nothing will change, and not just abstractly. I am one of the many who is stretching to even keep myself fed and sheltered. Any dreams that my college education meant job security, let alone success, are rapidly vanishing. I have fewer prospects than my parents. And the people being born now are facing perhaps even a shorter life expectancy than previous generations. And here is a man at least trying to do something. Can't we just once be happy for him? For us? Can't the spin on this be to use the positive momentum to push change forward?
Don't let anyone take this accomplishment away from you, President Obama. You may be young, it may be early and there are people who hate you for what you represent. But somewhere people are listening, home and abroad, people are changed by the things you have done and want to do. Now use this as proof that you should do them and more.
Recognized by Nobel? Dyn-o-mite!
Oh, damn! That just fucked up the whole campaign to bomb Iran.