President Obama “Humbly” Accepts Nobel
(Jewel Samad, AFP/Getty Images / December 10, 2009)
President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize earlier today in Oslo. I have no doubt that many will analyze and over analyze the content of his speech for the days to come, jokes will be told, and much of it will be absolutely justified, but we should all be cautious to not lose focus of the fact that an American President was being honored today. For all my disagreements with this administration and for every ounce of me that that sees this award as nothing more than a jab at the previous administration, I still wholeheartedly believe that it is an honor for an American to be honored in such a venue. We may not agree with the motivations behind the award; we may not like the timing of the decision; we may very well believe that the President should have had someone accept on his behalf; but it is still a great moment when citizens of the world have an opportunity to gaze upon an American President when he is being honored rather than ridiculed or criticized as is so often the case. I would encourage my conservative brethren to look at today’s award as an achievement for the American people – not necessarily for its President alone. It is a credit to the American system of government that we could elect such a man whether we disagree with him on a daily basis or not; for it is the diversity of opinions that makes this the greatest nation in the history of the world and that if nothing else is worthy of honor and commemoration on the world’s stage.
That being said, he really did lose me about ten times during this speech with his attempts at switching from lofty goals and ambitions to his goto strategy of throwing a bone to those at every point on the ideological spectrum in speeches of this magnitude. In one singular breath he actually declares his right as President to take military action unilaterally and states the importance of relying upon and strengthening the multilateral organizations. Pretty much the standard Obama rhetoric to say the least. At one point, he even makes an argument for the legitimacy of the War in Afghanistan as well as the effort to push Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, but glaring in omission was any reference to the Iraq War of George W. Bush, casually telling the world that he believes it was unjustified. Throwing the Bush administration under the bus was likely his way of paying homage to the people that granted him this pulpit to do just that.
And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage. Compared to some of the giants of history who’ve received this prize — Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela — my accomplishments are slight. And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women — some known, some obscure to all but those they help — to be far more deserving of this honor than I.
Read the Transcript here.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
I will have to disagree with you. To honor a president for achievements that are far from fulfilled just proves that this “so called” honor is nothing more than a dirty game of politics !
I completely agree with you in that regard Monica. I think you may have misinterpreted my message there. I too believe that the award was nothing more than a political message being sent our way by a foreign body aiming to cast stones at the previous administration. That being said, I do have the ability not to lose sight of the forest for the trees. I see President Obama as a bump in the road in the history of the United States. I feel that his presidency will serve no interest whatsoever except for the remote possibility that the time he spends in office may serve to change perceptions in the minds of those on the world’s stage that see us as close-minded and stuck in our stubborn exceptionalist ways. I for one, hope that any harm that he does this great country is overturned, reversed, and undone with great haste the moment he leaves office, but in the mean time, we may as well take advantage of the one positive attribute that he may have to offer.
From a purely American perspective, I love seeing an American president honored by anyone foreign or domestic. In fairness, I should probably qualify that by saying at least any reputable organization or entity on the world’s stage. Regarding the credibility of this institution, I too agree with you that President Obama’s untimely award of this great honor does a great deal to chip away at the prestige of this award – now and going forward. That being said, any such award that could be bestowed upon Jimmy Carter before it is given to the men that ended the Cold War- Ronald Wilson Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush – genuinely leaves much to be desired with me.
I appreciate your comment sincerely Monica, but I think you missed my message.