President Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize, Extraordinary! Or maybe not.

I heard earlier today that President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and started wondering what that really means. When talking about the Nobel Prize for peace, some monumental figures come to mind, for example Mahatma Gandhi, one of the strongest symbols of non-violence in the 20th century, was nominated in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and, finally, shortly before he was assassinated in January 1948. Although Gandhi was not awarded the Prize (a posthumous award is not allowed by the statutes), the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided to make no award that year on the grounds that "there was no suitable living candidate". Since we are talking about Presidents I will stay there for my examples, Theodore Roosevelt was the first U.S. president to win the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. He received the honor in 1906 for his efforts in mediating the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), midwifing the Treaty of Portsmouth signed by Russia and Japan on September 5, 1905.

Or we can use Woodrow Wilson, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919 "in recognition of his Fourteen Points peace program and his work in achieving inclusion of the Covenant of the League of Nations, which would later morph into the United Nations, in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles." That pretty much revolved around the end of WWI. And then we have Jimmy Carter, he won the Prize in 2002 "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development." He was the first U.S. president to accept the prize in person, in a ceremony in Oslo on December 10, 2002. His efforts at Camp David were instrumental in Anwar al-Sadat and Menachem Begin sharing the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978. All truly impressive feats, ending wars, preventing Mideast turmoil and the like are pretty impressive and not easily attainable feats. Two non presidential figures I want to touch on are Martin Luther King Jr and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. They also won the prize and we all know of their accomplishments, they are clear to all. Come on folks as much as I like the President he is not in their league when talking about accomplishments toward peace, not even close.

So as I ponder it, I am trying to figure out the monumental feat that has been accomplished by our President. After quite a bit of ponderin I came to the conclusion that I have ZERO respect anymore for the Nobel prize, the committees who vote for nominees or anything to do with the prizes. Why you might be asking. Well if we look at what he has done recently I could only compare it to a not so distant past President who performed a similar act. President Richard Milhous Nixon expanded the unwinnable war in Viet Nam into Laos and Cambodia, assuring the American people that it would help end the war. Well we know with a short glance at the history we should be learning from that that did not work. I see the same tired rhetoric being used about expanding the war in Afghanistan, and I still see no clear and easy to understand mission or exit strategy. Do you know when our work (whatever it is) will be done in Afghanistan? I do not. To me nominating President Obama is hypocritical, he is expanding the war that is contributing to bankrupting our country at the same time! That statement in and of itself it a GIANT indicator - he does not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, he is leading a active WAR!

After a bit of poking around I found that he was actually nominated some time ago, 2 weeks into his presidency actually. TWO WEEKS – what a crock and a symbolic gesture that tarnishes the validity of everything Alfred Nobel wanted to do by setting up the system, with 94% of his wealth, in his will before he died in 1895. With all the details worked out, the first of the prizes were awarded in 1901. So I thought I would investigate a bit more and see if there was something President Obama did as a Senator or community organizer before that that rose to the level of and had the merit the justified the award. Man I am having a hard time getting past the nomination coming only two weeks into his Presidency. In my research I could find no such event. I was able to find that the youngest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate is Mairead Corrigan, founder of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement, who was 32 years old when she was awarded the Prize in 1976. And I also found the oldest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate to date is Joseph Rotblat, who was 87 years old when he was awarded the Prize in 1995 for his efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics. I was not able to find the deed that propelled our president to the top of the heap, I know the answer is someplace out there – what is it? And more importantly is it grand enough to justify the prize?

This seems to me to be yet another example of the United States favorite pass time, lets whip up a bit of symbolism and place that over the substance of the matter. Who cares about such an obviously hollow award based solely on symbolism that has no defining event to make it actually mean something. I am so sick of the façade our government and country hold up to hide the ugly truths that they no longer teach our children – some people lose and some win and we are not and can not all be held up as stellar individuals. When we do that it, to me, is insulting my intelligence and invalidates the greatness of the people who are actually deserving of recognition for there actual deeds. I served in the US navy on 2 war ships and each had a ships motto, the first, USS Stump a Spruance class destroyer was “Tenacity: Foundation of Victory”. That means that something worth doing takes determination and hard work, that is what makes it worth while. We are a country of instant gratification and to me it is a damn shame.
On the USS Gettysburg the motto was “Deeds Not Words” which means we let our actions speak for themselves. In the case of President Obama, how do I reconcile these two mottos? I think they (our government, not just the President) are tumbling along without our interest at heart, the foundations of our country are based on representative government. Do you, deep down, feel you are being properly represented at any level of government, I do not. As far as the other, what deeds have we seen? Have we gotten out of Iraq NO, is there a plan to get out of Afghanistan – NO. We are just allowing ourselves to have the warm sunshine of symbolism blown up our asses and all we seem able to do is smile and enjoy it while we give meaningless awards to the folks running the fans that are doing the blowing. Giving the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama has tarnished the whole thing and sullied the accomplishments of true reformers who actually did the work, in the trench’s without an eye to how it might benefit them. I am thoroughly disgusted today indeed!

I have a Face Book friend who posted the following “For all the haters, the Nobel Peace Prize doesn't have to go to someone who had a world-wide effect on peace. It's someone who has made a great accomplishment in peace or equality. The fact that the US elected a president of African descent is a huge step. As someone on NPR said this morning, its not just only a prize for him but for the American people, that and he kept Palin from being in office…. Good point Brad.” All I could think was WOW, All the haters. Those are pretty tough words. I do not by any means hate the President, I voted for him – the first vote for a Democrat for president in my life by the way. So if the peace prize is not for someone who has had a world wide effect on peace I still do not understand this new definition of peace and equality. What – exactly – did the President do in his first two weeks in office, or before that could be considered a great accomplishment in peace and equality? The Nobel Peace Prize is not supposed to be a symbolic gesture for some nebulous accomplishments and when we water it down to mean less we disgrace the other winners, who have actually deserved it, those like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr and Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter and the list can go on and on. And what pray tell does the President being of African descent have to do with the Nobel Peace Prize? How, exactly, is his winning it a prize for the American people? I see no answer other than some nebulous crap that is supposed to make us feel good about our president and being American’s which is not what that particular prize is all about.

This is undoubtedly a topic that will get beaten to death in the media – this will be the last time I comment on it.