Nobel Prize surprise: Recipient has to live by the message

Nobel Laureate, Barrack Obama was surprised, more so perhaps, when the prestigious Peace Prize came with an implied revelatory tag: the recipient has to practice what he preached with his message instantly reaching dizzy heights. Obama has more to live up to, stated John McCain, the Republican Presidential challenger. French President Nicolas Sarkozy put it a notch higher: saying that the award “confirms, finally, America’s return to the hearts of the people of the world”.

Barrack Obama. Reuters

The welter of comments that inundated the Internet within hours of the news got a positive response from Obama: “we must pursue a new beginning among people of different faiths and races and religions, one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect.” It is a beginning and a hope that seemed to underlie the surprising announcement by the Academy.

A representative sample of comments from world leaders and ordinary folks reflected the sharp division generated by the Nobel Committee. An Obama supporter stated “I love the dude, but all he’s done on the peace side of things is make a few nice speeches and not go to war with anyone else. They are handing him the Nobel Peace Prize because he isn’t George Bush.”

There were many outside the US who felt that it was embarrassing to award the peace prize to the commander-in-chief of a military engaged in two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan and while Palestinians remain stateless. So it was when Henry Kissinger responsible for the war that killed umpteen numbers of Cambodians and Vietnamese, got the Nobel peace prize in 1973.

While not exactly cast in the same frame of reference, Obama had only being hemming and hawing for 11 months while Iraqis and Afghans lost lives needlessly due to the U.S. troop presence. Even more, he has yet to hold accountable those who engaged in torture at secret camps under George Bush. They believe this award to be dubious and questionable to say the least.

Many in US also overwhelmingly felt that Bush’s acrimonious posture in international affairs got denounced in an unusual but convincing manner. The harshness that epitomized past political environment may have annoyed the Nobel Committee somewhat. The leadership of the country was oblivious to ravages of wars, ignoring science, and ignoring global warming and world peace protests with impunity.

Hilarious hiccups

Some said the academy beamed a light from on high shining on Obama when the award was bestowed on him, encouraging him to pursue a decent dialogue. Obama has brought on a teaching moment at a time when some were dismissing all other nations and cultures, including a recent glitch by a senior staffer that put foreign Armed Forces to shame-considered an affront to Obama’s temperate foreign policy. While the Nobel Committee has shown that they want U.S. to be a powerful force for good, rather than permit a path towards coarser attitudes at the hands of men and women of lesser stature-hilarious to say the least.

To them, Obama is a breath of fresh air. No doubt, he has begun to use technology instead of fearing it, accepted the need to reduce global warming and not shy away from it. He is bent on talking to everyone. When criticized, he explained his thinking instead of sheepishly reversing his opinion. Obama had shown a will to do what needs to get done.

Peace Prize folks eagerly sought and understood that as well. Many felt that the award may have been a little premature but - relished the idea of the encouragement it gives the Obama Presidency! They feel that it was incredibly difficult to push on against tons of people trying to pull him down. Said one cynic “The Academy had joined the Obama fan club.”

Oleg Morozov, a senior member of the Russian Parliament from the ruling party, for example, was reported have said that the award amounted to an exercise in political correctness. “If I were the decision-maker, I would have given the prize to a different person,” he stated.

Sergey Karaganov, a prominent political commentator, told a Russian State news agency, that the prize was a down payment on the future. As reported he said “First of all, they gave it because they pin great hopes on Obama.” He added “because Obama tried to fundamentally change the philosophy of American foreign policy, though these are only promises, and because he gave Europeans - who, as I understand, defined the policy of the Nobel committee - a chance to still not do anything and hide behind America’s back, holding out their hopes for Obama.”

Not upset

In Iran, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, a close adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reported to have stated that he is “not upset” that Obama won the award, so long as it “motivates him to do more to bring an end to global injustice. Others were of the view that to truly deserve the award, however, Obama should remove the veto power of the United Nations Security Council, a goal whose chances are slim to none.

Desmond Tutu, the retired Anglican archbishop from South Africa who won the peace prize in 1984, stated that “It is an award that speaks to the promise of President Obama’s message of hope.”

Khaled Al-Batsh, a leader of the militant Islamic Jihad in Gaza, reportedly condemned the award, saying it “shows these prizes are political, not governed by the principles of credibility, values and morals,” “Why should Obama be given a peace prize while his country owns the largest nuclear arsenal on Earth and his soldiers continue to shed innocent blood in Iraq and Afghanistan?”

In a way, perhaps the Nobel committee rewarded American citizens for working to set a new course by electing a rookie Black man. Who knows it might work? But Obama’s prize is only a prize and should be better looked at through a philosophical mindset rather than a “he didn’t deserve it” angle.

Obama was told of achievement by his daughter as reported in the press this way: “Well, this is not how I expected to wake up this morning. Malia walked in and said, “Daddy, you won the Nobel Peace Prize, and it is Bo’s (their pet) birthday.” And then Sasha added, “Plus, we have a three-day weekend coming up (Columbus Day holiday)”

Obama said “it’s good to have kids to keep things in perspective. I am both surprised and deeply humbled by the decision of the Nobel Committee. Let me be clear, I do not view it as recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.”

I know that this prize reflects the kind of world that those men and women and all Americans want to build, a world that gives life to the promise of our founding documents.

And that is why I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st Century.

Barak Obama now joins that exclusive crowd of leaders that include U S Presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter and VP Al Gore, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King and Yasser Arafat.