Nobel Rant

As I've previously "Tweeted," I was surprised to hear Obama won the Nobel Peace prize.  It seemed premature, as many people are saying.  But I'm starting to see it more as an "Ata' boy!" statement of encouragement from the world.  A way of saying, "keep doing what you're doing.  Even though your actions aren't completely accepted in your own country, we think you're doing something good and healthy for the world in the long run."  When Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 he was not the most popular man in America. 

While the glowing support from the Nobel Committee may seem premature I think it's also important to note how shockingly vindictive his opponents have been.  From Rush Limbaugh declaring very early on that he wants Obama to fail, to the proud conservatives that actually celebrated when an American city lost the Olympic bid, just because it was a personal blow to Obama.  It doesn't seem that he's been in office long enough for the effects of his policies to really be felt, yet conservatives are getting so ralled up you would think they were all thrown into poverty the moment Obama was elected.  All the hatred seems to be based on theory, on ramifications they think his policies could have.  When people protested President Bush it was because soldiers have been coming home in caskets from a misguided war.  Or because he didn't pay enough attention to warnings about Bin Laden.  Or because he hired an incompetent person to run FEMA. Or for the myriad of other reasons his adminstration became the most unpopular administration in a generation.

In Obama's acceptance speech on election night he said he needs everyone's help. I thought that was such an important statement and hoped people would heed the call.   With all the bailouts Obama's administration has given this year I'm glad the Nobel committee is willing to give him a little bailout, even if it is a measly $1.5 million. But the statement of solidarity is more important than anything.  Maybe he'll see that people really do think he's on the right track, even if it's not the most popular one at the moment.