Tuesday, October 13, 2009

President Peace wins the gold

After spearheading a failed bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics for his home city of Chicago, President Obama spat in the face of the world by winning the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the third sitting president to achieve the highest honor for, well, anything. The IOC may not think he is important enough to deserve the international equivalent of barging in line, but apparently the Nobel Committee does. It's a bit like the time when I was kid and got rejected from Penn State, only to find out two weeks later that I was accepted to Harvard. Or the time my local paper wouldn't publish my poems, but the New Yorker accepted them. Ok, neither of those things happened, but highlighting the sheer lunacy of it begs an appropriate comparison.

When I read about Obama's win, my first feeling was surprise, Was he even nominated?, followed by annoyance that someone so early in his presidential career could win an honor that so many other, more 'deserving' candidates had been passed over for. For a look at some of the other potential 'competitors,' have a read here. Losers.

My second, almost immediate thought was, 'What about Bill?' I have long held Bill Clinton to be the Greatest Man Alive, and would love to see another Clinton Dynasty in the White House, or heck, why not a benevolent dictatorship featuring Billary leading the charge toward making the world A Better Place. Despite my obvious bias, I think this would have been an appropriate year for Bill to win, given his history in foreign policy achievements, brokering peace in the Middle East and the North of Ireland, his foundation and ongoing international efforts, his wife's prominence, and his high profile rescue of those journalists whose names I don't know. Also, many would argue that Bill led the charge toward the variety of diplomacy that Obama has reaped the benefits of. Heck some might argue that H.W. Bush did. We want Bill, damnit! Clearly, I am not the only one who thoght so. For crying out loud, even Maureen freaking Dowd, has something to say about it.

The national outrage and debate on the subject is actually quite a surprise to me, especially with some people calling for Obama to decline to prize, and his own brilliant PR machine writing individual emails to his constituents, detailing his own surprise and his desire to live up to the honor. Nice execution, O, even brought a tear to my eye. 'Cut, print, Oscar.'

Here is his full text.

Apple,

This morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6 a.m., we received word that I'd been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.

To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of t...he transformative figures who've been honored by this prize -- men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.

But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.

That is why I've said that I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations and all peoples to confront the common challenges of the 21st century. These challenges won't all be met during my presidency, or even my lifetime. But I know these challenges can be met so long as it's recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone.

This award -- and the call to action that comes with it -- does not belong simply to me or my administration; it belongs to all people around the world who have fought for justice and for peace. And most of all, it belongs to you, the men and women of America, who have dared to hope and have worked so hard to make our world a little better.

So today we humbly recommit to the important work that we've begun together. I'm grateful that you've stood with me thus far, and I'm honored to continue our vital work in the years to come.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama


Obviously, O should not decline a Nobel Prize people. If you find a lottery ticket on the ground and win a million dollars should you attempt to find the person who originally purchased the ticket? Hell no, take that money and buy a yacht. It's yours, finders keepers. Do people really expect Obama to give up the Prize and pass it along to the unknown Congolese surgeon who saves thousands of rape victims on a daily basis? Let's not get carried away. We are none of us martyrs. Declining the Prize is more tasteless than accepting it.

Ok, so if there is no way he can give up the prize, why the fuss from Left and Right? After all, isn't America the Beautiful a country that cheers the underdog? We love Joe Louis and Billy Elliot, and there was even a viral video from American Idol featuring a gifted singer from the poor section of town who went on to wow the world with her singing 'I dreamed a dream.' Appropriate and well manufactured choice of songs, I would say. This isn't the first time we've borne witness to the media's attempts to warm our hearts. Perhaps, necessary in war time.

So why aren't our hearts more warmed by this story of President Peace and his unlikely rise to the top? We loved it when the one term Illinois senator/ community organizer went on the become the first African-American President, and thereby the most powerful man in the world. Why are we so annoyed about a title that really confers virtually no money, no power, and who's past recipients are hardly household names? We are appalled that Obama does not 'deserve,' this award, because America is a country where everyone should deserve their rewards, and where nothing but hard work, perseverance, temperance, modesty, and diligence have allowed the successful to enjoy the fruits of their labors. It seems indicative of the patently 'American' phenomenon that people should succeed, but they can't succeed too much. We are a Citizen Kane society.

Well, is the reason we are less than enthusiastic about Obama's dark horse victory because we are afraid of him becoming too big, or is it truly because he has really done too little?

Let's take a look at the Nobel Committee press release to see why Obama won. Here's the play by play.

NNC:
Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play.

Apple:
Ok well, basically we are giving him an award for not being Bush. Have we forgotten Clinton, HW, Carter, and heck even Reagan might be accused of employing multilateral diplomacy when the time was right. Let's give HW a Nobel for opening up diplomatic relations with China and being around when the Cold War ended. I might even argue that Bush senior's relations with Moscow sped up the fall of the Iron Curtain.

NNC:
Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts.

Apple:
You think? Wow. Genius. Let's give a Nobel to Nixon for his diplomacy in China while we are handing out prizes.

NNC:
The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Apple:
Ok, that was a mouthful. Well, Al Gore ran his campaign on a platform of nuclear disarmament and he got screwed. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for recognizing 'climactic challenges.' Good job! I suppose Obama deserves this high honor because Bush denied the existence of Global Warming and failed to initialize the Kyoto Protocol that Clinton and Gore spent their tenure authoring and advocating.

NNC:
Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future.

Apple:
This comment is probably the most upsetting because we are basically saying we are giving Obama a prize for his celebrity. Isn't the Nobel an honor awarded to people who have been under recognized in their fields? Is the Nobel not a vehicle to confer much needed recognition rather than reinforce it? Why not give the Prize to Bono if celebrity is a criteria?

NNC:
His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

Apple:
Ok, another no brainer.

NNC:
For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

Apple:
Here the NNC is telling us that aspirations and platitudes, and 'attitudes' directed at shared responsibility are enough to confer a Nobel Peace Prize. Let's get serious here. I share these values. Do I deserve a prize? Well, the NNC is saying that by giving Obama this prize, we are sharing it with him, so it looks like I do. Yes, Apple for the win.

I was going to take a moment here to rant about increasing troops in Afghanistan and continuing missile defense, but this rant is becoming too long. While I like Obama, and I did vote for him, I have been somewhat disappointed in his results as president.

So let's conclude here that the Nobel Committee cannot even express in a press release why Obama is winning this prestigious honor, other than for being Not Bush. Perhaps we are so scarred from eight years of a Bush presidency that it is necessary to encourage our next president to dig us out of the foreign policy hole we have been in for the past eight years. Ok fair enough. I will admit that I think it is wonderful that Obama was elected as our first black president, which is a small step toward healing centuries of wounds from a history of slavery and a subsequent culture of racism. This may be reason enough to earn this prize. I don't know.

However, after reading about the other nominees, and lamenting about Bill, who not only qualifies in the above mentioned counts, but has also made achievements towards them, I find the reward insulting. It is like a reward for stumbling upon Leona Helmsley's lost cat. Perhaps there have been other travesties in the world of Nobel honorees, however the reason the Nobel Peace Prize is so important is because Peace is something that all of us can understand. We don't understand Economics, we don't understand Medicine, and we sure as hell don't understand Physics, but Peace, while being elusive and difficult to achieve, is a concept so beautiful and so tangible, that it makes no sense to award it for something so intangible as Hope. While they may go hand in hand in the realm of verbiage, peace and hope, peace, love, hope, and understanding, Obama has done little but pay lip service to peace, and until he does more, he does not deserve this prize.

In the face of the other nominees who have made strides toward peace in the face of heart-breaking adversities, giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama is nothing better than giving it to a pageant queen who declares that she wants to dedicate her life to work toward 'World Peace.' So now that Obama has won this prize, I hope he can live up to his name, and save us from embarrassment in four years, because that is a very tall order to fill.