President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize Win

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Permalink Reply by Sandra Spencer on October 9, 2009 at 10:19am

My heart soared. To those who would say that President Obama has accomplished nothing worthy of this offer, I counter with: he has dared to challenge the sacred cow of nulear disarmament for the world, he has claimed enogh inner authority to choose negotiation first, he has looked at both Palestine and Israel with an eye to bilateral justice, he has shown the earth community that as Americans we are interconnected and cannot live in a unilateral world. President Obama has touched the spiritual core of humanity with HOPE for peace in a way that has not happened in recent years. In addition, our President shows this leadership looking out on our country and our world from a black face challenging all the latent racism that is buried so deeply in our psyche and our country. Thanks to the committee that has this kind of insight and vision

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Permalink Reply by John Antonelli on October 9, 2009 at 10:29am

GO BARACK!!!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Giovanna on October 9, 2009 at 10:54am

Sandra, you say it so eloquently. I want to join your particular chorus!

Sandra Spencer said:

My heart soared. To those who would say that President Obama has accomplished nothing worthy of this offer, I counter with: he has dared to challenge the sacred cow of nulear disarmament for the world, he has claimed enogh inner authority to choose negotiation first, he has looked at both Palestine and Israel with an eye to bilateral justice, he has shown the earth community that as Americans we are interconnected and cannot live in a unilateral world. President Obama has touched the spiritual core of humanity with HOPE for peace in a way that has not happened in recent years. In addition, our President shows this leadership looking out on our country and our world from a black face challenging all the latent racism that is buried so deeply in our psyche and our country. Thanks to the committee that has this kind of insight and vision

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Permalink Reply by Jay Richard Jones on October 9, 2009 at 11:01am

Sandra Spencer said:

My heart soared. To those who would say that President Obama has accomplished nothing worthy of this offer, I counter with: he has dared to challenge the sacred cow of nulear disarmament for the world, he has claimed enogh inner authority to choose negotiation first, he has looked at both Palestine and Israel with an eye to bilateral justice, he has shown the earth community that as Americans we are interconnected and cannot live in a unilateral world. President Obama has touched the spiritual core of humanity with HOPE for peace in a way that has not happened in recent years. In addition, our President shows this leadership looking out on our country and our world from a black face challenging all the latent racism that is buried so deeply in our psyche and our country. Thanks to the committee that has this kind of insight and vision

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Permalink Reply by Jay Richard Jones on October 9, 2009 at 11:15am

I think President Obama would be well advised to decline the Nobel Peace Award. Being recognized for inspiring the world to peace is quite apart from helping the world accomplish it. I don't think he's yet earned the award, and if he agrees in his heart, his stature in the world would be enhanced substantially by graciously and humbly declining it.

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Permalink Reply by Alex T on October 9, 2009 at 11:55am

What a Joke the Nobel Peace Price has become. What has Obama accomplished? Nothing. Sandra you want to give praise to somebody that did something for nucleur disarmanet thank Reagan. He increased our Defence Spending that resulted in the Russians coming to the bargaining table. It was power that brought Nuclear Disarnament.
Obama goes to Europe to apolige, for what? The European ought to apologize to us. If it wasn't for American intervention during WW II, Europeans would have slaves to Nazi just as Blacks were at one time.
What peace, Iran. They hate us even more after we discovered they have more nuclear matieral. Obama is no friend of Israel, most people don't trust him there.
Sandra I just wish you would read history. People like my dad who came from Mexico had nothing when they came in 1922, they bleed to feed families and like million of Mexicans that came from this time period, it was an insult to get government help, but you know something they made it and prospered.
No Obama, even though he did not have a wealth childhood has never understood or done manuel work or even run a business. No Ivy league, intelluctaul egghead understand what the majority of us do in our day to day lives.

Sandra Spencer said:

My heart soared. To those who would say that President Obama has accomplished nothing worthy of this offer, I counter with: he has dared to challenge the sacred cow of nulear disarmament for the world, he has claimed enogh inner authority to choose negotiation first, he has looked at both Palestine and Israel with an eye to bilateral justice, he has shown the earth community that as Americans we are interconnected and cannot live in a unilateral world. President Obama has touched the spiritual core of humanity with HOPE for peace in a way that has not happened in recent years. In addition, our President shows this leadership looking out on our country and our world from a black face challenging all the latent racism that is buried so deeply in our psyche and our country. Thanks to the committee that has this kind of insight and vision

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Permalink Reply by Matthew - NC on October 9, 2009 at 4:07pm

I'm proud and happy for him, but I think this award was one for 7 years down the road, not now. Only 3 other US presidents have won the award:

Woodrow Wilson - Created the League of Nations, forerunner of the UN
Teddy Roosevelt - Not sure why he won, need to research it.
Jimmy Carter - For philanthropic/humanitarian efforts after end of term.

In other words, presidents whose accomplishments were *not* sufficient to win a nobel prize include

FDR: Kept America together through the great depression, saved free world
Harry Truman/Dwight Eisenhower: Oversaw the rebuilding of international relations & the world economy after the devastation of World War 2
JFK: Cuban Missile Crisis, civil rights
Lyndon Johnson: Civil Rights, Great Society (Vietnam is a black eye, but that was a war he "inherited" from his predecessor)
Richard Nixon: Watergate was a *major* black eye, but he did end the Vietnam war and thaw US/Chinese relations
Ronald Reagan: Instrumental in ending the Cold War.

I hate to be a downer, but there's no way you can say that President Obama's accomplishments, less than a year into his presidency, with the US still in Iraq, still in Afghanistan, still holding people at Gitmo, still under the Patriot Act, and still in a recession, measure up to those of either the winners or losers above (well, maybe Nixon - Watergate slammed him down so hard that he's not that hard to beat). His time to win this should have been 6 years from now when all these problems have been *solved.*

We've had a change of tone, and some promising talk, and that's great, but this award is about something you *did,* not something you *said*. If anything this is a sign of just how politicized the award has become, and if I were one of this year's nominees with a lifetime body of work, I'd feel pretty shafted right now.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Stopper (WAMU 88.5) on October 9, 2009 at 4:37pm

Monday at 10 EST on WAMU 88.5, Diane Rehm will be continuing the discussion of the reaction to President Obama's Nobel Prize win with journalists E.J. Dionne and Tod Lindberg.

http://wamu.org/programs/dr/09/10/12.php

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Permalink Reply by Leslie Monroe on October 12, 2009 at 4:15pm

Sorry, but his win was for an attempt at making a difference not actually doing anything. I think this guy has had a greater impact on changing lives for peace.

Greg Mortenson, nominated for the peace prize by some members of Congress, whom the bookies gave 20-to-1 odds of winning. Son of a missionary, a former Army medic and mountaineer, he has made it his mission to build schools for girls in places where opium dealers and tribal warlords kill people for trying. His Central Asia Institute has built more than 130 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan — a mission which has, along the way, inspired millions of people to view the protection and education of girls as a key to peace and prosperity and progress.

However, I don't believe President Obama has done enough to deserve such a high honor. The Nobel Committee praised him for promoting a message of peace, cooperation, nuclear disarmament, and promising to ease conflict. While President Obama definitely has a strong desire to bring more global unity, there hasn't been much to show for it, other than some speeches and visits abroard. I just don't think there has been enough action to warrant such a highly distinguished award.

Leslie,
JRS Medical Supplies

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Permalink Reply by wonkguy on October 13, 2009 at 6:46am

Are you saying the "Beer Summit" was nothing?????

Seriously though, I think it is very easy for us to just dismiss the award and say "He's done nothing" because we are both cycnical about our own political system and the results it produces as well as ill-informed about the political conditions under which most of the people in the world live under.

While we may scoff at the President's absolute and public mandate that we will not use waterboarding or any other torture techniques against prisoners in U.S. custody AND that we were going to hold regimes around the world to the same standard. This may seem like puffery to us, but the overwhelming majority of people in the world live under political systems where either the government or its enemies or its allies for that matter, can do whatever they want to people within its borders without any fear of being held accountable.

It may not be clear how the United States would hold oppressive regimes responsible, but there are certainly plenty of apparatus in place (World Court, U.N. Commission on Human Rights, and a host of other non-governmental organizations) that could make a abusive ruler in say...Sudan, a little nervous. This is a big deal if you are a poor itinerant farmer in an African nation ripped apart by civil war, a young women who happens to be an ethnic minority in a country in the Balkans where you have a legitimate fear that if another war breaks out, you could wind up in forced prostitution or worse. The United States obviously can not wave a magic wand and remake the world overnight, but it can step forward and help set a tone. It's up to us as citizens to hold the President to his words. I think the unanswered question is whether Americans are ready for the responsibility of a Nobel Peace Prize.

It's totally possible that somehow the Noble foundation have made some terrible mistake. They did afterall give Henry Kissenger a Nobel Peace Prize too back in 1973. But the sun came up the next day and the laws of gravity still apply so I don't the world will come to an end if the President's award turns out to be unfulfilled.

Congratulations to the President, the Secretary of State, and the entire country.

Leslie Monroe said:

Sorry, but his win was for an attempt at making a difference not actually doing anything. I think this guy has had a greater impact on changing lives for peace.

Greg Mortenson, nominated for the peace prize by some members of Congress, whom the bookies gave 20-to-1 odds of winning. Son of a missionary, a former Army medic and mountaineer, he has made it his mission to build schools for girls in places where opium dealers and tribal warlords kill people for trying. His Central Asia Institute has built more than 130 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan — a mission which has, along the way, inspired millions of people to view the protection and education of girls as a key to peace and prosperity and progress.

However, I don't believe President Obama has done enough to deserve such a high honor. The Nobel Committee praised him for promoting a message of peace, cooperation, nuclear disarmament, and promising to ease conflict. While President Obama definitely has a strong desire to bring more global unity, there hasn't been much to show for it, other than some speeches and visits abroard. I just don't think there has been enough action to warrant such a highly distinguished award.

Leslie,
JRS Medical Supplies

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Permalink Reply by Winifred Beam Kessler on October 15, 2009 at 11:46am

Richard,

Have you considered that there is usually a different role to play by inspirers and implementers? Jesus Christ, the Christian Evangelists, Mohammed, Moses and Abraham, Confucius, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Teresa of Avila, Enheduanna, many other men and, alas, as of yet, only a few known women, from different world cultures have contributed insights and wisdom in the eloquence necessary to express them effectively. They had, and continue to have, major roles in shaping human culture. Without them, those who implement their insights and wisdom into policies, procedures and other actions would not have known to do what they are enabled by the inspiration and insight to do nor the guidance needed.


Superior intellectual accomplishment, insight/soul work and eloquence are usually underrated, feared and envied, in particular by those who aspire to these skills and yet do not have the magnanimity to show appreciation and gratitude when they experience it in others. Gracious and humble acceptance of Obama and the gifts he is bringing to us and to the world is at present too lacking in the U.S.A. The skills, accomplishments, behaviors and humility that both he and Michelle have already shown make them role models for any persons who have the good of our nation and of the rest of the world in our hearts, souls and minds.

Jay Richard Jones said:

I think President Obama would be well advised to decline the Nobel Peace Award. Being recognized for inspiring the world to peace is quite apart from helping the world accomplish it. I don't think he's yet earned the award, and if he agrees in his heart, his stature in the world would be enhanced substantially by graciously and humbly declining it.

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Permalink Reply by Winifred Beam Kessler on October 15, 2009 at 11:55am

Winifred Beam Kessler said:

Richard

Leslie, Matthew, Alex and others who have said or think that Obama has not "accomplished enough": Have you considered that there is usually a different role to play by inspirers and implementers? Jesus Christ, the Christian Evangelists, Mohammed, Moses and Abraham, Confucius, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Teresa of Avila, Enheduanna, many other men and, alas, as of yet, only a few known women, from different world cultures have contributed insights and wisdom in the eloquence necessary to express them effectively. They had, and continue to have, major roles in shaping human culture. Without them, those who implement their insights and wisdom into policies, procedures and other actions would not have known to do what they are enabled by the inspiration and insight to do nor the guidance needed.

Superior intellectual accomplishment, insight/soul work and eloquence are usually underrated, feared and envied, in particular by those who aspire to these skills and yet do not have the magnanimity to show appreciation and gratitude when they experience it in others. Gracious and humble acceptance of Obama and the gifts he is bringing to us and to the world is at present too lacking in the U.S.A. The skills, accomplishments, behaviors and humility that both he and Michelle have already shown make them role models for any persons who have the good of our nation and of the rest of the world in our hearts, souls and minds.

Jay Richard Jones said:

I think President Obama would be well advised to decline the Nobel Peace Award. Being recognized for inspiring the world to peace is quite apart from helping the world accomplish it. I don't think he's yet earned the award, and if he agrees in his heart, his stature in the world would be enhanced substantially by graciously and humbly declining it.

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