I have not had a chance to comment on President Obama unexpectedly "winning" one of the world's most prestigious awards, the Nobel Peace prize [article link]. Most times, I would be proud that any U.S. President would win an award such as the NPP. And, the Nobel committee said it was due to the President's work to reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons. That is a laudable act for any person on earth. However, the submission date was the end of February. President Obama had been in office all of 6 weeks (at most). What did he do during those 6 weeks to merit such an award? He was busy attacking the American taxpayer with the government stimulus bill that would halt unemployment across the nation. Right. So, what did President Obama do to justify his winning this award? According to the official message from the Nobel Committee, "...for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples", which is puzzling. I'm not the only one who expressed surprise. Our European allies are shocked as well. But, they do seem pleasantly surprised. 
Even if the submission date was in August, what has President Obama accomplished to justify this award? Peace in the Middle East? Don't think so. Stopping nuclear ambitions of Iran? Not at all. Peace in Iraq, Afghanistan? A big NO to both. So, what the hell was it? What did he do, in 6 weeks, to "strengthen international diplomacy" and reduce the threat of nuclear weapons around the world? It is ridiculous. This not only cheapens the NPP, it calls into question as to if they have a political agenda. Based on the evidence, this award was purely political.
5 comments:
Yes. In effort to "stick it" to Shrub (Bush Jr), 5 guys in Norway said...We love you. Go forth, and do good work.
Let us hope he (Obama) is very successful.
Twitter/Juligogo
Well, I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or if you agree that the Anointed One deserves the NPP. If you agree he does, I'd be interested in reading your reasoning.
How have you been doing, Juli? How are things on the job front?
Hello David,
I am doing well. How are you? I am still job hunting. It is very slow out there. Yet, I'm still luckily healthy, but still can't afford health care. (just had to mention it :-)
I may believe the NPP was premature. However, I also believe it is not another opportunity to criticize Obama.
I am past the point of being tired of the anti-Obama-everything.
Just like the cheers for not winning the Olympics; it is just un-American to continue being against every cotton-picking thing.
Obama didn't say...give it (NPP) to me. He, himself, said just the opposite, that he didn't deserve it.
Does that count for anything?
More importantly, on the world stage, America should be a good neighbor. This notion that America should dominate and bully the rest of the world needs to be closed down.
That America declared war on a sovereign nation, unprovoked (Iraq) is still to this day shocking and deeply saddening to me. I do not like that America. I do not want that America.
Obama has changed the tone. Yes, it is only the first step. But he had the intelligence and kahunas to do it. Thank God.
And if the NPP wanted to say...please continue down this road, that's their perogative.
America should be thankful.
Have you read "The Post-American World" by Fareed Zakaria?
Let us be good neighbors. Let us talk to our neighbors. Even if we don't like what their doing. There's more to diplomacy than sticks; there are carrots too.
Twitter/Juligogo
I give you credit, Juli. Out of all the people I know on the left (online and off) you are the only one who has stated the NPP could have been premature.
Having said that, I find it remarkable that Democrats have a hard time dealing with the criticism of Obama. George Bush, of whom I certainly was no fan, was chastized repeatedly the 8 years he was in office. He was called nazi, imbecile, stupid...and those were the kind names. I can not see why Obama should be treated any differently for his policy decisions. Two wrongs do not make a right. But, this is politics we are discussing here. If is un-American to criticize Obama, it was un-American to criticize Bush. You can't have it both ways.
Yes, I give Obama credit for saying he was surprised he received it and that it was unexpected. However, I have not read where he said he didn't deserve it. I'll take your word on that one, however.
America is still criticized for the gunboat diplomacy of the Teddy Roosevelt era. We still see the hatred of the USA for that in Central America. However, I don't believe we bully our neighbors. We certainly don't bully Mexico, who makes it a practice of sending their destitute to the USA, so that the American taxpayer can support them. I do believe we should be confrontational with "neighbors" such as Iran and North Korea. These two countries are terrorist states who mean harm to our country.
I never agreed with invading Iraq. It was a mistake, plain and simple. But, you can't say that Saddam Hussein was a benign president who only wanted the best for his country. Still, we had no business going in there. Afghanistan is a completely different matter. But, since Obama came into office, that situation has gotten progressively worse. Either he should support the troops with materiel and manpower, or get out and take the chance that al qaeda will not attack us again.
Back to the NPP; I don't begrudge President Obama the award as much as I do in the manner it was awarded. If it was due to "work" for the past 9 months, say so and stop the BS about "accomplishments." He has accomplished nothing in office and that is why he is being ridiculed so much, by so many.
I enjoy discussing with you Juli. You are articulate, well spoken and dedicated to your beliefs. I completely disagree with you. But, I enjoy chatting with you. Please come back sometime. You are always welcome and best of luck to you in your future employment.
Hello David, How's it going?
I'm staying busy (yes, really!); I've also had the opportunity to read quite a bit, and watch some movies. Just finished The Shawshank Redemption (1993); it's very good.
So, it seems to me that you've set up some straw man arguments. I’ll point them out along the way.
I do recall Bush being made fun of, his grades at Yale, his vocabulary (we all know 'the decider' and the extra syllable in nuclear), but I don't recall any Nazi references, or him being likened to Hitler. I’ve seen pictures of late, so I guess it happened, but I don’t think it was reported widely.
If two wrongs don't make it right...When do we stop?
I did not suggest it was un-American to criticize Obama (straw man); I was stating that criticizing "everything" (examples given: Olympics, NPP) was un-American.
Of course there will be policy decisions that people disagree on. But the Olympics? Suffice it to say it is just poor taste (but it's actually worse, but I'm not going to make a mountain from a mole hill out of it). And the NPP is another good example of that.
About bullying…In 1953 in Iran, we (the CIA) installed the Shah (Pahlevi) and deposed a democratically elected PM Mosedeqq. Why? Oil revenue. I would say that is bullying. Iran has never forgiven us.
After we helped Afghanistan drive out Russia in the 1980's, we promptly "disembarked". Now, that's not bullying, but it is disgraceful. And what was the consequence? A power vacuum…with Osama bin Laden and a lot of weapons and friends...and anger.
We help keep the monarchy in Saudi Arabia stable. Even though women are not allowed to vote, own property, or even drive cars; non-Arabs, non-Muslims and non-males are systematically treated different. We are not creating friends.
Kissinger favored "friendly" relationships with military dictatorships who oppressed their people.
We both agree on Iraq...and that is the biggest, fattest example of bullying there ever was for America.
I can't imagine how a discussion of Israel and Palestine would go between us. Would you agree we are not objective or honest brokers to both sides?
We meddle all too often in other countries affairs.
It has its consequences.
I never stated Sadam Hussein was a benign president (another straw man). That in no way justifies our actions (war).
About Afghanistan…I really hope whatever decision Obama makes about the next step in Afghanistan it is the right one. We've been at war since 2001. That's 8 years. WWII didn't take this long. It's unfortunate, but the Bush Admin. took their eye off the ball with the Iraq war...and what was that about Consequence?
Gen. Patraeus asked for 30,000 more troops the Spring of 2008...guess who said "No"?
Honestly...what is the goal? I don't understand. What is the definition of success? What are we going to “win”? Seriously.
Al Queda is in Pakistan. The Taliban...what do we do with them? There's a new government, albeit, struggling; Karzi has been begging America to pay it more attention. I’ve seen him numerous times in news interviews over the last 8 years stating exactly that.
It seems the answer is strengthen the government, build infrastructure. Along with "how" by whom? Does that mean by America's soldiers?
Isn't it time for NGO's, and private companies? Create economy? Yes, of course security is an issue, but past that…there are different tasks at hand (afore mentioned infrastructure); how does the military help with that? Should it?
I do not presume to have the answer. I think all the talking heads (left and right) on TV are full of sh**. They don’t know either.
After all the suffering the Afghan people have gone through…instead of this neo-con chant of war, war, war…can’t we give their country back to them?
I’m not saying up and leave. I’m just saying “fix it”.
It is only after the decision, it’s execution, and time…that we will know not only 'the answer' but if it worked.
Twitter/Juligogo
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