Today the Nobel Foundation announced that President Obama, or as Rush Limbaugh likes to say "Barack Hussein Obama" was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
David Letterman's happy because President Obama's Nobel news finally takes his name off the top of the news buzz for the week.
Frankly, I'm not surprised that President Obama won the prize and I can't for the life of me believe that some in the media would even be so blind as to ask "What did he do to deserve it." Memories really are short in this new media society, eh?
Ok, I'll tell you what President Obama did.
First, as Senator running for President, Barack Obama gave what some feel was the greatest speech on race and race relations in a generation last year. Chris Matthews hailed Obama's speech as "Worthy of Abraham Lincoln". Johnathan Alter of Newsweek observed that the speech gave us a chance to move to a better racial future. It was a speech so popular that at one point it represented 15 of the top 20 most viewed videos on YouTube.
Obama's race speech:
Second, as President, Obama gave what was called a "game changing" interview to Al-Arabiya, a historic first time an American President has been interviewed by Arab media.
President Obama's Interview with Al-Arabiya:
And of course there was President Obama's speech in Cairo in June. There, and at great personal and political risk, Obama called for a new era of relations between the United States and Muslims Worldwide. While the speech was liked by some and not by others in the Mideast, it was frank, to the point, and inspirational.
The Cairo Speech:
In each of these examples, and there are many more, President Obama has, at again great political and personal risk, worked to reach out to build bridges between people around the World. I think we take what he does for granted because he makes it look all so easy, the Le Bron James of International politics.
And on that, I personally think this was Oslo's way of making up for a terrible and unnecessary Olympics snub, not to mention the gleeful reaction on the part of American conservatives.
And that leads me to this point:
GOP conservatives and their more wild-eyed confederate-flag-waving friends sound more and more anti-American every day. If it's not Rush Limbaugh siding with terrorists like the Taliban, which panned the Obama awards, it's GOP Chairman Michael Steele expressing disappointment and not a word of congratulations for our President.
Even in my worst moments as a liberal blogger, I've never been disrespectful of "Number 43" President George W. Bush. Not once. How President Obama is treated by some is just north of nuts.
Obama's Oslo Speech is a must-see for the World
On December 10th President Obama will be in Oslo, Norway to pick up his Nobel Prize and make a speech. That speech and platform will mark Obama's "second coming" - the introduction of a new World leader and a man with a giant mission, but really one he embarked on long ago: to unite the World.
I must agree with you. Obama is a real great man with wonderful visions and a passion for world's diplomacy restoration. After having watched those upper-mentioned speeches of his again, I must say, he deserves to be appreciated. Although, maybe, the Nobel Prize was a little bit premature, but let's see, what else he is going to show to the world. Julie
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