http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Peace_PrizeAccording to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded "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."
Obama hasn't put as much personal effort towards the cause of peace as did Ghandi. Obama hasn't devoted his life to peace as complete as the 14th Dalai Lama, who was awarded a Nobel peace prize. We can all agree that if Obama didn't happen to be president of the U.S., he'd have never been even seriously considered for the peace prize. Obama *is* president, however. He's president of one of the most bellicose jingoistic war-mongering nations on the face of the Earth, a nation whose recent wars have brought death and destruction that rivals even the Chinese invasion and subjugation of Tibet. As such, simply by *not* pushing the giant red button and invading another country, but instead, leading the country towards a more peaceful posture and attitude, Obama *has* done a hell of a lot for the cause of peace.
Had the nation been in an era of peace, Obama's leadership wouldn't have been so remarkable, and he undoubtedly would not have received the Nobel prize. It is the contrast of Obama's rhetoric with the Bush era politics and rhetoric that is important and which constitutes a 'work towards peace' substantial enough, in the esteem of the committee, to merit the prize.
It's an unfortunate reality that bureaucratic institutions, including entire governments, hold so much sway over the affairs of people. Obama's contribution as candidate for President and subsequently as President of the U.S. is that he has steered, but actually and also symbolically, the U.S. govt towards the direction of peace, he has given voice to the U.S. population which advocates peace, and more importantly, he has given expression to that entire segment of the world population which advocates peace, and he as done all of this if through no other property of his own than by merely not being George Bush. Does Obama the person deserve the Peace prize? Undoubtedly not. Does Obama the president who has started (yes only just started) the process of bringing the U.S. govt, and possibly the whole world, back from the edge of apocalypse deserve the Prize? Sure why not. As one or more members of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee admitted themselves, the dude may yet crash and burn, but for the moment anyway, he both symbolizes and embodies the world's hopes for a better and more peaceful bureaucratic paradigm.
It's interesting that a committee derived from the ultra-liberal and generally secular Norwegian people have proposed Obama to be the current keystone in the question of world peace... This is interesting, when you consider the fact that the ultra-conservative religious movements in the U.S. have since before the election proposed the same thing... Although, this latter movement proposes Obama to be none other than the anti-Christ... More than an extremist idea held by a few crack-pots, this idea actually enjoys widespread traction in the more conservative areas of the U.S. such as the Mid-West. In it's more extreme and literal manifestation, this idea of Obama the anti-Christ may be relegated to an extremist minority, but certainly, there is in the not insubstantial rank and file of the U.S. conservative movement a more general widespread sense that Obama is unwitting puppet in some scheme that is bigger than he is, some scheme straight out of the Prophesies, involving Free Masons or Space Aliens, or.. or.., involving the unification of all world governments into one, in anticipation of... you guessed it... The Rapture... *rolls eyes.* No, seriously, I am not kidding you, the average rank and file of God-Fearing Truck-Driving Factory-Working Midwesterner actually holds onto these ideas in one form or another. These ideas are alive in the American conservative movement. Not every conservative holds onto these ideas, but many do, and even more than a few so-called 'independents' and Democrats hold onto either these conspiracy ideas themselves, or hold onto and help perpetuate the general environment of religious fanaticism and educational deficit (a whole other topic right there) in which these ideas thrive.
Well anyway, predictions of the End of The World and also of imminent World Peace (see the U.S. Hippie movement of the 1960s) have again and again over the decades enjoyed popularity, and invariably these predictions fall flat. It's just interesting that at the present moment, not only do the liberals of the world recognize Obama as being somehow key to world peace, but also the conservatives recognize Obama as being somehow so potentially dangerous to their cause (which, however well-intentioned, has historically always coincided with death and destruction) as to call Obama out as none other than the anti-Christ.
Meanwhile I still don't have health care.
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Topic: Obama gets Nobel (Read 4558 times)