What’s the fuss?
Do tell me what’s happening?
All this talk from right-wing republicans about whether or not Barack Obama deserved to win the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize comes from spiteful and resentful perches. Always remember that there are very few people who possess the moral courage to support another’s success without envy. Republicans have demonstrated this with full regal display, ever since the day the announcement was made, that Obama had won the internationally prestigious and coveted Nobel Peace Prize: and attendant award(s).
Of course Barack deserved the Nobel: he earned it over the years with his articulation, suave, depth, sophistication and overall brilliance; despite a couple blatant mistakes. He earned it with his work on nuclear arms reduction while in the senate. He earned it with his commonsensical approach to diplomacy: engagement not confrontation; dialogue not escalation; inclusion not isolation; more mutual respect and less threatening behaviors; and so on, and so on. He earned it because he has raised hope and lowered fear. He earned it because he has charted a positive course forward for US foreign policy in the short-term. He earned it because of exactly what he accomplished: becoming the first mulatto to attain the office of US president. The rest of the world is quite aware of US racial history folks; trust me on this one.
The left-wingers who criticize the choice may be coming from a more cerebral place: but they are misguided all the same. Like most of the right-wingers, they too miss what’s behind this commendable decision of the Nobel committee.
To win this gold prize and the 1.5 million dollar award, there is a simple standard set down by the deceased Alfred Nobel (go look it up). And that simple standard has enabled Barack Obama to become eligible for this prize, because he has worked diligently for “fraternity between nations”. It’s as simple as that.
And maybe it is fitting for the man who invented dynamite to will the world a prize so ridden with controversy; after all: “dynamite” has given us both progress and heartache; and this prize has done the same over the years. There is something oxymoronic to the name of this prize, given human’s bellicose history. And the fact that Mahatma Gandhi was nominated many times and never won it -while Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho did- is enough to raise many an eyebrow. If you want to be objectively critical, cases can me made against such awardees as Kofi Anan, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Nelson Mandela and Fredrik Wilhelm deKlerk; given that there were times when they all indulged in non-peaceful activities/initiatives/behavior.
There is something vomitable about seeing the same the same right-wing functionaries who pummeled Barack Obama for not securing the Olympic Games for Chicago in 2016, pummel him again for now winning the Nobel. They replaced one schadenfreude moment with another, as if not to understand the inherent contradiction. For Barack it has become: “damn if you do and damn if you don’t”. There is no win for him from the Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and Fox News Network crowd. The disappointing thing about all this is the fact that most of the prominent republicans continue to be silent about what’s really going on here -on a daily basis. Go listen to right-wing radio. Go read some of the stuff coming out from their writings, ravings and rantings. It’s despicable. It’s horrible.
Two events have now exposed Rush Limbaugh’s statement (“I want Barack Obama to fail”) for what it is: man’s inhumanity to a fellow man. Limbaugh has stated that all he meant was for the president’s “economic and social policies” to fail, and that it wasn’t personal. Knowing only too well that such a failure will hurt millions all over the world. Yet, he revels in the fact that the Olympics not coming to Chicago has cost thousands and thousands of jobs, and billions in real dollars through economic growth. It wasn’t a policy position taken by the president: it was simply an initiative aimed at needed economic, physical, psychological and cultural development. And now that “Limbug” criticizes the president for “winning” a Nobel, we have to consider that there is something sinister behind these daily attacks on Barack; something sick and scary. It’s like these right-wingers are setting him up for some lunatic’s assassination attempt.
This is a teachable moment in US politics folks, since the crowd that normally roots for the USA (no matter what), and thinks that the USA is never wrong (no matter what), suddenly discovers pseudo-objectivity. All of a sudden they are coming up with all sorts of reasons why Barack shouldn’t have won the award, and why it wasn’t deserving. And yet they have failed to offer up any other individual (of the billions on earth) who has impacted the world as positively, as profoundly, and as powerfully as Obama has: especially over the last two years.
Herein lies the problem for some of Barack’s Nobel detractors: they want to be able to quantify things. They can’t think in the abstract. They want to be able to measure things: like outcomes. They want to quantify things. They want to see tangible things: like peace treaties and troop withdrawals. They want to count them. They want tallies. They want to add and subtract like kindergarten thinkers. They just don’t understand that it’s time to reify.
How do you measure inspiration? How do you measure hope and promise? How do you measure aspiration and dedication? How do you measure audacity and faith? How do you evaluate the world-wide belief in a man’s genuine desire for peace and reducing tensions all over the world; by most of the people living in this world who are aware of what’s been happening since February 2007? How do you evaluate universal trust when you consider awarding someone a Nobel Prize?
Didn’t Obama’s detractors see the international outpouring of love, which flowed when he won the election last November? Didn’t they see the spontaneous worldwide celebration for days; in country, after country, after country? Did they really understand what this was about? Why did all this open emotion emanate from simply an election result?
Barack Obama has inspired the world more than any other individual has in my lifetime. And I want to believe it is because many people (including some US-born) were tired of the contradictions in US foreign policy since World War 2; tired of a country having troops, military-bases, the CIA, plus military advisors, potentially devastating weapons, military equipment, technology and machinery, all stacked in dozens and dozens of other countries: sometimes with apparently no respect for either sovereignty or reality.
People are tired of the bombings (more than any other country in the history of humans); tired of the military involvements; wary of military invasions and occupations: they want a more restrained foreign policy from this country. They want peace and freedom to reign, just as another Nobel winner (Martin Luther King) once said.
And I write all this knowing full well that in less than one year in office, Barack Obama has already missed a few opportunities to make this world even a better place than he already has. For example, last April while he was in my birth-country (the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago) Mr. Obama could have removed the insidious and anachronistic embargo on Cuba: which will be coming about a half century too late. And over the last six months he could have acknowledged Eduardo Galeano for the great historian he is (“Open Veins” and “Memory of the Fire”), and shown the world that he has read, absorbed, understood and acknowledged what has happened to Latin America in the last 500 years. He also had enough time to walk away from his ridiculous campaign remark, that he would unilaterally bomb a sovereign state (and supposed ally /Pakistan), if he found out that military-intelligence suggested Osama Bin Laden was hiding out in their rugged hills. So he isn’t perfect: far from it.
And yet this obviously imperfect human (aren’t we all?) is one of the most likeable figures in contemporary US political history. He is special despite his flaws; very special. He may not be as profound a thinker as he is a tactician, but he is extra-special all the same: he makes you feel good. And sometimes I wonder if he is aware of what’s in his hand. I say that because he has had an opportunity to change some of the ways we do economics in this world, and so far he has knocked the table and passed. This is a president whose stimulus package didn’t include a public works project of grandiose proportions; one which must come eventually: and sooner than later. A president who refuses to talk about the widening gap between rich and poor: all over the world. A president who is too cautious in the selection of what topics he chooses to discuss; a skilful and calculating politician who regularly demonstrates flashes of brilliance with the cool of a bushel of cucumbers.
This man Obama has captured the imagination of humans worldwide. He has their attention in his palms. People are riveted to their news sources awaiting his every speech, move and explanation. He has given them hope for a better world: unlike many of his predecessors.
Contrary to Rush Limbaugh’s dreams, hopes and wishes, most people here and abroad want to see Barack Obama succeed as president. They understand the international importance and implications of such a successful presidential tenure. To most in the world, this isn’t about clashing political philosophies. This isn’t some “ideological food fight” in the college cafeteria. It’s bigger than that; much bigger than that. There are weapons of mass destruction out there , and there are people willing and able to detonate them.
This prize was also an encouragement of sorts from the committee (to Obama). Even a US president needs to be encouraged sometimes. Every now and then we all need a hug. Barack got one: a big one. Soon he will travel to Norway to accept his prize; I expect that he will give another brilliant speech. I also expect to see his trademark boyish grin and his patented charismatic smile. I suspect that most people in the world will be smiling along. Do republicans realize that relative to their views and treatment(s) of Obama, they are out of touch with most people in this country and this world? I guess not. The last time I looked, Obama’s popularity rating in the USA was close to 60%: despite the pounding he has gotten all year from the right-wingers and an occasional leftie.
Stay tuned-in folks.