Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

Frankly, I was surprised at first to hear that President Barack Obama would be the recipient of this year's Nobel Prize for Peace. Like most people who were similarly stunned, I felt that it was too early to award him with the honor for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." Although it is remarkable that citizens of the United States have put into office a person who is categorized as a member of a sociocultural, racial, and ethnic group once shackled under the iron feet of slavery, I did not believe such an accomplishment was attributable to Obama alone; nor did I feel this feat warranted company with Jane Addams, Ralph Bunche, Albert Einstein, Albert Lutuli, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Nelson Mandela, among others. I just could not see it.

Clearly, the award to Obama is more about potentiality than it is about the phenomenon of his candidacy. Racism in the United States is still our greatest moral dilemma, despite the rapid ascendancy of Obama's public life. The negative effects of American capitalism, i.e., the widening of the gap between the haves and the have-nots, still permeate our economic milieu even in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Heightening our involvement in one theater of war, Afghanistan, and gradually drawing down troops in another, Iraq, have left little incentive really to focus on addressing other hot spots that need diplomatic attention. Certainly, Obama has not had the opportunity to address many of the concerns for which he is being feted on December 10 of this year.

After all, it would be ridiculous to try to award him for not harping on the public option as a necessary component of any health care reform. It is preposterous to compliment him on trying to reach a level of bipartisanship that nullifies the progressive wing of his own core political affiliations. It would be ludicrous to pat him on the back when he has not had the opportunity to work towards a two-state solution in the conflict between Palestine and Israel. And it borders on unconscionable to laud him for Internet savvy, compelling small donations from the indigent, and basking in the sunshine of celebrity. So, it must needs be because the Nobel Committee hopes to influence the trajectory of his presidency by applying the pressure of receipt of such a prestigious gift.

We shall see whether this accolade becomes too great of a burden to bear!