President Barack Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize today. Barack Obama? The same Barack Obama who was little known outside of Chicago just a couple dozen months ago? The same Barack Obama who was in office as President of the United States “less than two weeks” before the nomination window for the Nobel prize closed, according to the Associated Press? The same Barack Obama who has given umpteen speeches but accomplished virtually nothing as of yet? Something, me thinks, is rotten in Oslo.
Once upon a time, the selection of a Nobel Peace Prize winner was taken seriously. Among the 96 individuals receiving the high honor are luminaries like Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel, Lech Walesa, Henry Kissinger, and Martin Luther King Jr. However, the thoughtful choosing of someone worthy of the award died a sudden death in 1994 with the unbelievable choice of Yasser Arafat. The Palestinian Liberation Organization leader was many things, but a peacemaker wasn’t one of them. His jaunt into the United Nations wearing six-shooters was not out of character for him. Nor was the warm welcome he received from the majority of U.N. delegates. Since Arafat’s accolade, the annual crowning of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate has degenerated into a politically correct farce.
The Nobel committee’s oversights are as embarrassing and revealing as its awardees are comical. Let’s see, who comes to mind? Which American President, without firing a shot, brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union? Hundreds of millions of East Europeans and former citizens of the various republics that comprised the defunct USSR have Ronald Reagan to thank for their freedom. No other person in the history of the world set so many people free while employing such restrained use of power. Sadly and tellingly, President Reagan was never chosen for the honor Barack Obama received today. He probably considered the slight a compliment.
Like so many honors nowadays, the Nobel Peace Prize is often used as a weapon against those who are worthy yet politically unacceptable to the liberal left. Instead of recognizing Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, Reagan’s vanquished foe, was given the prize in 1990. The director of The Last Temptation of Christ, roundly and correctly criticized for fabricating lies about the Savior, was given an Oscar even though the movie was a cinematic disaster. In the case at hand, Barack Obama received the award not based on anything he has done, but his perceived superiority to George W. Bush. Jimmy Carter and Al Gore were honored, in 2002 and 2007 respectively, in large part to slight “W”. Referring to the shocking selection of Barack Obama, the AP wrote, “The plaudit appeared to be a slap at George W. Bush…” The real damage has been the trivialization of the award itself.
In the end, we should not be surprised at the selection of Barack Obama. His pathetic and repeated apologies for all things American appeal to European socialists. His willingness to engage in friendly dialogue with Holocaust deniers like Iran’s Ahmadinejad fits like a glove with European dreams of no more war. Obama is, after all, one of them. They have merely selected one of their own.
Posted by Jerry Pomeroy in Current Affairs, Fraud Watch, Politics