Obama Get Nobel Peace Prize, Plans War In Middle East
The AP headline this morning read “In A Surprise, Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize.” In related news, other shocking announcements reveal that the sun rose, the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers again, and David Letterman isn’t perfect. Quite frankly, I was more surprised this morning at how much Fruity Pebbles we had left.
A white-knuckled, teeth clenched Chelsea Clinton told reporters that “No, really, mom and dad are thrilled for the president. They have in no way turned the living room into an MMA fighting arena.”
Many observers won’t be stunned that Obama was given a Nobel. He has gone to great pains to hook up with the rest of the world, but you’re not gonna have to find Glenn Beck on the radio to hear someone question the merits of this award. Questions are already popping this week about Obama’s relationship with the left-wing media. Wolf Blitzer’s beard almost came off as he condemned Saturday Night Live’s sendup of the president’s year one lack of accomplishments. Early reaction to this morning’s announcement is drawing more criticism.
Newsweek blogger David A. Graham doesn’t share the Prize Committee’s zeal. In an article detailing some other controversial selections, Graham points out that it’s a bit early for such acclaim. After all, didn’t Arizona State University feel Obama shouldn’t even get an honorary degree? Furthermore, the author notes, “Obama is likely to order thousands more troops into a warzone within weeks.”
The president’s support
ers have been picking up criticism lately over Obama’s escalation of the war in Afghanistan and his failure to close Guantanamo or even release prisoners anywhere near the rate of the Bush administration. While Obama draws ire from his base, he ain’t exactly gathering new supporters from the right. One might suggest that Obama could end up a man without a country, but that’s not the case. Tons of countries love him; he just isn’t doing so well in America.
You can expect a parade of skepticism from all over the world similar to that of Lech Walesa, former President of Poland, the baddest Pole I’ve ever met, and 1983 Nobel Peace laureate. “So soon? Too early. [Obama] has no contribution so far. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act.”
I can’t seem to find any lines in there to read between.
The AP makes this business sound like dog training. The peace prize committe meant to scold former President Bush while luring the young president with a Nobel bone. “Come on Obama. You’re doing good! Keep it up!” If the criticism ever gets too tough, die-hards can always fall back on the comforting knowledge that Obama only makes mistakes because of what George Bush did to America.
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The Nobel prize has often gone to statesmen in progress. In multiple cases, their work didn’t exactly work out. The two most relevant choices would have to be U.S. President’s Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter. Both received attaboys for getting papers signed that ultimately didn’t mean very much.
President Wilson led America into World War I. Wilson once said that tragic events had made his countrymen “citizens of the world,” a phrase similar to the one spoken by Obama last year to Germans in Germany during his campaign for votes from Americans in America. Wilson helped craft the treaty to end The Great War and create the League of Nations, sort of a stepdad to the United Nations. The Treaty of Versailles didn’t work out as well as everyone hoped. Germany got hammered and turned to Hitler. Italy got Mussolini. World War II happened.
Jimmy Carter is often comparable to Obama. Some say the excitement over Carter on the night he was elected was reflected by Obama’s selection last November. Carter oversaw environmental concerns, rising energy costs, and crises in the Middle East. Carter was also given a Nobel Peace Prize, albeit in 2002, another newspaper across George Bush’s nose. Of course, Carter got clocked when he ran for reelection in 1980. He was awarded the Prize for his work in bringing together Israeli Prime Minister Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, a Jewish-Arab connection if you’re keeping score at home. Further treaties did not follow and former President Carter has become progressively insane in recent years.
Al Gore also got hooked up for his work in impressing Leo DiCaprio and making Melissa Etheridge cry. Teddy Roosevelt remains the only Republican president to ever win the thing (1906). Good ol’ Teddy once boasted of “killing Spaniards like jackrabbits” after his time in the Spanish-American War. Dwight Eisenhower never got one of these things. Ike for crying out loud!
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Former Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, a big anti-nuke guy, actually had this to say without throwing up in his mouth:
“In less than a year in office, [Obama] has transformed the way we look at ourselves and the world we live in and rekindled hope for a world at peace with itself. He has shown an unshakeable commitment to diplomacy, mutual respect and dialogue as the best means of resolving conflicts.”
There must be a handbook of meaningless, praiseworthy cliches somewhere. How else am I supposed to understand how in the name of Arnold Slick our world is at peace with itself and how did that happen in the last year? I guess Obama’s commitment to “the best means of resolving conflicts” includes detaining mo
re prisoners than the Bush administration and sending more troops to Afghanistan.
My problem is with these idiotic rubber stampers with double standards that make John Kerry look like George Washington. Maybe Obama’s a hypocrite, but every candidate makes promises they can’t or won’t keep when they become the president. His followers are afraid of their hero’s mediocrity to this point, so they want to bedazzle him with useless acc
olades.
If you think this award means something then give it to someone who is actually doing something, not someone who might. We all could do something. Some people are, like Blake Mycoskie of Toms.
Alfred Nobel said the award should go to someone who “shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the…” blah blah blah. By the way, Nobel said that after he invented dynamite.
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