President Obama and the Noble Peace Prize (Originally Drafted 12/11/09)

President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. I watched his speech, and over all I have to say I thought it was a good speech (more about that in a minute). There was some criticism of the trip, not to mention about his receiving the award in the first place.

As far as the trip is concerned, there was some discussion in the media about the President not attending some events including a luncheon with the King and Queen. I think that if the President was going to receive his award in person he should have attended the other related events, such as the lunch with the King and Queen of Sweden. These events are a part of receiving the recognition of the award, it is also common courtesy.

Imagine if another world leader had come to the United States to receive an award and the President and First Lady were attending the ceremony. As a part of the events President and Mrs. Obama had invited that leader and their spouse to a luncheon in recognition of that leader receiving the award, the leader declined to attend. What an uproar there would be, in addition to talking about what an insult it was to this nation the media would be ridiculing the leader, probably even ask aloud if there might be racial overtones behind the skipping the lunch.

The White House was making a feeble attempt to cover by saying that he was the only president that received the award, and that he had to get back to Washington. There was no transatlantic air travel when the others (Roosevelt and Wilson) won the award, they would have had to travel by ship (and it would have taken more than a few hours). Additionally, the embassy(s) and the aircraft referred to as Air Force One are equipped with the latest communications equipment for just that reason, so the president can stay in touch and deal with the business of the country.

As far as the speech was concerned I thought overall it was a good one. I did have a concern when he spoke of the Geneva Convention; these provisions are for members of a country’s armed forces, not for terrorists. Are we now going to extend the protections of the Geneva Convention to persons that it was not created to protect?

One thing that I liked was in the beginning he addressed the sending of additional troops overseas, the President also addressed the need to use force sometimes to ensure peace. I hope that those foreign leaders, and their military advisors, that believed they could do anything without worry of the United States will rethink those positions. Will the President commit troops in the future, I don’t know, but neither does anyone else at this point. However, President Obama did articulate a justification for doing so, which indicates that the option is available.

Finally let me address President Obama’s being awarded the Noble Peace Prize. Did he deserve the honor? Considering that up until now the award has been for past accomplishments, considering that the president was nominated less than a month after taking the oath of office, I believe that there were others that were more deserving. Had the Noble Committee nominated him a year or more into his term of office I believe it would have been more appropriate.

Having said that, people need to take a deep breath and relax! Regardless if you agree or not, in a global view it is an honor for the United States to have a sitting president be nominated and receive the award. The only question I would ask those that are upset or disappointed at President Obama’s receipt of this honor; Were you just as upset or disappointed when Al Gore or Rush Limbaugh were nominated? That's right (no pun intended) Rush Limbaugh, he was nominated in 2007 along with the former Vice President.

I am hopeful that now the world can move on, George W. Bush is no longer the President, enough with trying to bash him or do things that some might perceive as insulting him. Enough with the Bush bashing already!

That’s My Opinion, What’s Yours.