Regarding the Peace Prize for President Obama

[bigmacbear]

gmjambear and I got to talking about President Obama's award of the Nobel Peace Prize. Gary suggested he received it, in part, because of his address to the Muslim world some months ago. I said he's got a gift for diplomatic public speaking, now let's see him get the opportunity to use it.

Gary reminded me that just as poverty was not wiped out in India when Mother Teresa received her prize, nor was civil rights a done deal in the US when Martin Luther King was awarded his, nor was the eternal conflict over Israel and Palestine settled when Yassir Arafat and Shimon Peres received theirs, so too is there much work yet to be done on the issues for which President Obama spoke so eloquently and thereby made himself a candidate for the prize.

And yes, it certainly helps that Obama is not Bush, as much as he might wish to hold on to the power that Bush left him during his eight disastrous years.

But in a field of endeavour in which progress comes, when it does at all, in painfully small increments over an excruciatingly long time, these awards are not so much for achievement but to promote whatever progress can be made. In other words, these are not laurels to be rested upon.

Comments

Climate Change

[poodler.livejournal.com]

I suppose one can make the argument that Al Gore and his panel have not accomplished a reversal of climate change. But he's been at it for over 30 years.

My concern with Obama getting a nobel prize not even one year into his presidency is how this will color his reaction to situations in the future which might require that the US engage in additional armed conflict.

Re: Climate Change

[bigmacbear]

My concern with Obama getting a nobel prize not even one year into his presidency is how this will color his reaction to situations in the future which might require that the US engage in additional armed conflict.

I don't think that stopped Arafat from waging his war on Israel. It just went underground for a time.

But I think a bit more deliberation before committing scarce resources to an armed conflict is a Good Thing.