The Unbearable Lightness of Barack Obama

If you have a lot of hope invested in the Obama Presidency, this might be the moment to unload your stock. Barack Obama, a man who failed to qualify for an honorary degree from Arizona State University, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At a moment when political events have been very dicey, and his approval ratings hover at fifty percent, God hands him a great gift. No one could have expected it, but anyone with an ounce of genuine self-regard should have known what to do with it.

All President Obama needed to do to cash in on his prize was refuse to accept it. And he should not refuse politely, as Mickey Kaus recommended, but angrily.

What is wrong with you people? I haven't been President for a year, yet! Come back in four years and judge my record then. To give me this prize right now is a slap in the face of those clearly have earned this prize. Nelson Mandela spend decades in prison for his principles, and you want to put me on the same shelf after a few months? You cheapen the prize by this nonsense. You think you are showing me honor, but this kind of honor is indistinguishable from contempt.

That or something like it is what the President might have said, if he did have an ounce of genuine self-regard. Had he said it, he would have reversed the fortunes of his office in an instant. He would have looked like a genuine person, someone you might be able to trust to reform America's healthcare system. But of course he accepted the award.

This looks like a disaster to me. Anyone who suspects that the Barack Obama phenomenon is built on air has now had his suspicions powerfully and unambiguously reinforced. There are a lot of such someones just now among America's independents.

This award accomplished the amazing feat of making the Nobel Peace Prize look even more like a joke. I wouldn't have guessed that were still possible. But Barack Obama was only beginning to look like joke. I suspect that this prize will be part of the future repertoire. Just think: Obama can be awarded a life time achievement award at the Oscars for all the movies he will no doubt make when he leaves office! And maybe he deserves one of those genius awards, not that he has had any brilliant ideas. But he has created a better atmosphere for the idea of brilliant ideas!

The only result of his prize is that it is harder to take the prize itself or Obama seriously.

Comments

[donCoyote]

The Noble Prize lost all of it's credibility years ago. This was intended as a slap at the United States in general and at GWB specifically as it was with Gore's in '07 and Carter's in '02. What can be said about an award that doesn't even recognize achievements in mathematics or that denied Mahatma Ghandi the Peace Award numerous times (5?). Not much

[Saladdin]

Actually it's NobEl Prize, not Noble Prize, but that's not the point. IMO, anyone who can get Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity to agree with Hamas, the Taliban, the Iranian Regime, and Al Quaeda deserves the Nobel Prize in Peace.

BTW, he's already started to eliminate nuclear weapons, something Reagan said he'd try to do until Thatcher talked the MX missle up to him, after that, the talk of complete nuclear disarmament was over.

Has he actually accomplished anything? Actually, yes. The way the world looks at us is different, especially those of our allies that we ran over for the past 8 years. Obama's worldview of American greatness is rooted in the ideology that America can lead as part of the world, but not in spite of it.

[GeneK]

This morning when I heard the news of the award--I felt good. Proud of my country. Proud of our President. I seem to be out of step with a lot of folks---maybe I'm living in an alternative universe. I don't mind viewing events with a critical eye--but is it too difficult to just enjoy good news--at least wait until the ink is dry.

[KB]

GeneK: if Obama was declared a Saint by the Catholic Church, I wouldn't have to wait for additional information to know that a serious mistake had been made. To give the President the world's once most prestigious award because he made everyone feel better cheapens the award and is no reason for anyone to be proud.

Saladdin: "Obama has already started to get rid of nuclear weapons" you say. Really? How many weapons and whose weapons? We'll see if he makes any progress preventing the Iranians from creating more nuclear weapons, but he hasn't yet "started doing" anything with regard to nuclear weapons.

Your history is faulty. Reagan concluded the INF Treaty with the Russians, which resulted in the actual dismantling of nuclear weapons. That is what doing something looks like.

[Miranda]

GeneK: What exactly were you proud of him for? This is like awarding a gold medal to a runner who didn't even compete in the race.

[rocketship]

I agree with you completely, and thank you for putting it so well. Anyone with a proper ethical compass would recoil from getting this prize right now. On the other hand, it's gotten people's attention off his Olympic defeat so strategically this is probably a good event for him (even though it shouldn't be).

Also I have to repeat somebody else's joke from cyberspace: The Nobel Peace Prize, now available in cereal and cracker jack boxes!

[GeneK]

This is why I was proud Miranda. I didn't like it when America was portrayed as a bully--that's not the America I know. The announcement when I read it indicated that to me America was viewed as a statesmen. That made me proud. Enough said.