Most mornings, NPR wakes me up with the early news. Most mornings it is bad news. Most mornings it is about car bombs. But this morning was different. This morning I heard that Barack Obama , our president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I was elated! I have great hope for him and what he can do for our country. I recognize that he is having a tough time of it now and that his detractors and even some of his supporters are not pleased with this event.
About the best his detractors can say is that it is too soon or that he was nominated right after he took office. Some think the prize should be awarded on the basis of accomplishments and not intentions.
I'd like to point out a few facts about the Prize itself and shed a little more light on the subject.
I wanted a photo of Obama but I can't steal the photos of others and I've never been close enough to him for a closeup. So, I am repeating a photo I took at a rally for him last November.
Look closely. That's him at the mike.
The Nobel Peace prize is dedicated 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". It's clear that he hasn't done the "most" in this area, but former Finnish President, Martti Ahtisaari, who was last year's Peace Prize laureate, said it was clear that the committee wanted to encourage Obama on the issues he has been discussing on the world stage. This award has only been made to two former U.S. Presidents and no incumbent president has received the award in the past 90 years.
The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 96 times to individuals and 23 times to organizations.
Three striking examples of people who did NOT receive the Prize are Adolf Hitler, Mahatma Gandi and Joseph Stalin. Stalin was nominated in 1945 and 1948 for his efforts to end WWII. Unbelievably, Hitler was nominated in 1939 , but the man who nominated him, a member of the Swedish parliament, withdrew the nomination . And Mahatma Gandhi, the strongest possible symbol of non-violence in the 20th century, was nominated five times but was never awarded the prize. The prize cannot be awarded posthumously.
So you see, it is a mixed bag. All the other Nobel prizes are presented in Sweden in December in the City hall . A friend of mine is fortunate enough to attend each year, as an active member of Amnesty International in Stockholm . The Nobel Peace Prize is presented in Oslo, Norway.
I hope that this recognition will make it possible for people from around the world to once more respect and honor our American president.
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This morning I saw the news on Yahoo!'s front page about President Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I was thrilled that others around the world were already so impressed with his efforts to reclaim America's role as the peaceful world leader that it played before the invasion of Iraq.
Then I started to hear the detractors. It was too soon; Obama hasn't done enough about jobs, the economy, etc. What I heard to little of was how wonderful it was that our elected leader raised the free world's respect for the United States (therefore, us) once again without even trying.
Obama's humble announcement about the award and his own belief that he had not yet earned it, but saw it as something that would inspire him to work even harder to promote peace in the world.
It amazes me that some Americans will put Obama down regardless of his hard work and rigorous effort to repair a broken political system.
Some people just don't get it. All Americans should be proud today.
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