Obama. Nobel. Because Everyone Else is Doing it...

Okay, now that I have your attention… Giving Obama the Nobel Peace Prize is right up there with me receiving a Grammy for the Peacemakers videos I put in my last post. He hasn’t done anything yet. He hasn’t had time to do anything. We don’t know if he’ll cause a net increase in peace or war over the course of his Presidency. Frank Schaeffer would disagree with me, specifically:

Because President Obama has not been on a timetable of a fast-paced music video but rather has approached governing at a measured pace working for long term results the smart ass part of the left, raised on high sugar content breakfast cereals and too much TV, a group of people who think in soundbites and 30 second news cycles, will somehow, like the far right, turn this good news into bad news.

But this marginalization of anyone who says that Obama hasn’t accomplished anything is nothing more than a strawman. It’s entirely possible to say that Obama hasn’t done anything without any unrealistic expectations of what he should have done. Back in 2004 I voted Kerry knowing full-well that even if he won he probably wouldn’t pull us out of Iraq at any time in the near future. This is the nature of war, especially stupid, shortsighted wars that countries enter based on mistaken ideology and lies. Obama has not pulled us out of Afghanistan or Iraq yet. I don’t count that against him, since he’s been in office for all of nine months and inherited a massive boondoggle after eight years of Bush mismanagement. Obama hasn’t closed down Gitmo. That’s more of a problem, since he has repeatedly demurred from his campaign promises due to political pressure. Obama has steadfastly refused to open up the files on the CIA torture thing and it currently looks like the Administration is not a fan of Eric Holder, who is the only one who is pushing for justice to be done. Meanwhile, Obama continues to rattle sabers in the general direction of Iran and Pakistan. He continues to find it necessary to be tough on terror or whatever in order to keep the thirty-ish percent of the country who hate him and wouldn’t vote for him if he were running against Satan himself* happy. This is not a good combination of things. Of course there are those who say that Obama’s Nobel is intended as a slap in the face to the Bush administration. There are those who say that it’s all about Obama’s revitalization of America’s image on the world stage. Those aren’t good enough reasons. Obama hasn’t done anything yet. More importantly, we don’t know what he’s going to do. EDIT: I've started to see a lot of, "Well who deserves this more than Obama?" That's a stupid question that's intended to halt conversation. The main problem is that very few people actually know who in the world is wandering around doing things deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize. This, of course, is because, at least in America, your average human being has a better formed opinion on the Beyonce/Taylor Swift music video controversy than the Nobel Peace Prize selection process. Making the world a better place just isn't sexy. So let's start with the list of other nominees. There were 172 individuals and 33 organizations nominated for the prize. The whole thing is kept secret, but there are a few places where names have leaked out. Now, I don't know that Nicholas Sarkozy deserves the award any more than Obama. I don't know that Ingrid Betancourt deserves it, either. But how about the folks at the Cluster Munition Coalition? I think that getting people to stop dropping cluster bombs is a pretty damn good idea. And that Nobel Peace Prize clout could get the organization a lot of attention. Shouldn't that be a major factor in the consideration of what the NPP is about? Shedding light on those who are actually working to make the world a better place but who are currently almost completely unknown? It makes a hell of a lot more sense than giving a prize to an American President who hasn't actually caused a net increase in world peace... Meanwhile, remember when everyone was calling Alan Grayson the Joe Wilson of the Democrats. That was fucking stupid. And Grayson is using his exposure well... Double Edit: Oh, yeah, the Committee for the NPP stopped taking nominations and stopped considering accomplishments in February. As in, two weeks after Obama's inauguration. -------------------------- *Satan is against socialized medicine and welfare, don’tcha know…