Don’t Laugh, He Won It Fair and Square
Jonathan Tobin - 10.09.2009 - 10:21 AM
To do proper justice to an event as ridiculous as President Barack Obama’s winning of the Nobel Peace Prize would seem to require satire at the level of Jonathan Swift or at least H.L. Mencken. Though I’m sure some of our contemporary humorists will come forward on this topic, the idea of a man who has only been in office for nine months and who has done little to nothing to lessen the dangers to world peace that threaten the globe (and nothing on this score before reaching his nation’s highest office) receiving such a prize is staggering and beyond the ability of most common scribblers to properly characterize. While we already knew that the president’s vanity was virtually limitless, who could have thought that even the fools who cook up these prizes would be willing to pander to him with such shameless cynicism?
Peace is further off in the Middle East, a nuclear Iran is a virtual certainty, and victory in Afghanistan over the Taliban is more doubtful than ever under Obama’s watch. So since he can point to no actual achievements, Obama’s worthiness for this honor would seem to consist merely of gracing the world stage with his presence. As such, his peace prize is, perhaps, like all those medals that kings and dictators wear on their dress uniforms when they are trotted out for public display. Indeed, if Obama is already worthy of the peace prize, then surely other equally unlikely honors are soon to follow so that other sectors of society can pay homage to him for just being Barack.
By this I don’t mean the sort of plaques that any famous person can get, such as honorary doctorates from universities. No, if this is the standard by which the president must be flattered, then I’m afraid Joe Mauer and Albert Pujols may be disappointed to learn later this year that Obama will be voted the Most Valuable Player Award for both the American and National Leagues for 2009 just because of his inspiring stint throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at the All-Star Game.
But rather than dismissing the Nobel Committee as being merely besotted with the president’s persona, we must not ignore the fact that their purpose is not just to add to Obama’s legend but to actually reward him for what they think he has done. And that is no laughing matter.
The award citation includes the following: “His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.”
What are those values and attitudes? In his Cairo speech in June, Obama articulated his belief in a moral equivalence between Western democracy and the authoritarianism and tyranny under which almost all the Arab and Muslim world labors. In Cairo he lauded the right of Muslim women to choose to wear veils but said nothing about the fact that the societies he means to engage seek to compel the wearing of such headgear on all women, as well as to impose their beliefs on everyone. To the applause of America’s detractors and enemies, he has eschewed the spread of democracy and freedom, apologized for rather than expressed pride in his own nation, and preferred instead to “engage” vile dictators who mock the values and attitudes upon which American liberty is based.
As absurd as this prize may be, it is no joke. Obama has won the applause of the Nobel Committee honestly by appealing to their contempt for democracy and their desire for more appeasement of tyrants. On that score, the president surely won this award fair and square.
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