President Obama Wins the Nobel Prize for Peace. And This Is a Bad Thing Because?

Yesterday, President Obama awakened to learn that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. In his acknowledgement, he confessed his humility at being awarded the prize, and confessed that he did not feel as worthy as some earlier laureates whom he had much admired. Nonetheless, he said that he would accept the prize as an acknowledgement of what this country can do and will try to do to live up to the ideals of our founding documents.

This did not stop the derision from some who found him less than deserving, some even saying that he should decline the prize. To date, the only person who has turned down the prize was Le Duc Tho, the leader of North Vietnam who was awarded the prize along with Henry Kissinger for their efforts on the Viet Nam Peace Accords. Rush Limbaugh even said that he agreed with the Taliban that President Obama did not deserve the honor. Glen Beck was, as usual, apoplectic. A few sane voices on the right, among them John McCain and Tim Pawlenty, acknowledged what many of us feel: that it is an honor for a sitting President of the United States to receive this recognition.

One of the principal reasons for the awarding of the Nobel Prize is to recognize and honor "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations…." (http://nobelprize.org) This year, Barak Obama was awarded the Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." According to the Nobel Prize web site, 205 names were submitted in 2009, thirty-three of which were organizations. The Nobel Committee does not release the names of the other entries for fifty years, and so we do not know the nature of those competing with our president. This, however, does not diminish the honor of his being awarded the prize.

Was I surprised? Yes, I was as I had heard no rumblings of this possibility. He is a new president, but he has made many efforts to rectify our standing in the eyes of the world. (If you read the list of the Nobel Peace Prize laureates from 1980 to 2009, you will find that about ten of them were given for "efforts," not for accomplishments. The prize is frequently given to those who espouse diplomacy as a tool for solving conflict, not something to be denounced.

President Obama has announced our attempt to close Gitmo, a black eye on our reputation as a nation of laws, and while it is as yet to be accomplished, he and his Justice Department are working to realize this promise. He has spoken out for the reduction of nuclear proliferation and is working with other nations to make it a reality. He has spoken to the Arab people on Al Jazeera to stress that we Americans do not hate all Muslims, thereby giving some in the Muslim world less reason to automatically hate us. He is attempting to work with those in the Middle East before the situation gets any worse. If the eight years of the G. W. Bush presidency taught us anything, it was that nations ignore the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians at their peril and that a chauvinistic attitude toward the rest of the world makes them less likely to want to work with us. "My way or the highway" is a bully's approach to dealing with others. Some may follow out of fear, but others will hate us, and in some of those countries, a hate will simmer and bubble over into American-hating fanatics that perpetrate events like those of 9/11. We must know our enemies in order to deal with them intelligently, and the best way to get to know people is to talk with them. That does not make you a wimp. Quite the contrary. Most bullies back down when their false bravado is met with one who does not cringe in their midst.

Our President just won an honor for which we should be proud. Perhaps, that will make other nations more willing to work with us to address many of the problems facing the world today. Is that a bad thing? I think not.