on the nobel peace prize
I had three thoughts when I heard this.
The first was: Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. That’s so damn beautiful my nipples are hard.
The second was: And thus the Nobel Comittee has finally redeemed itself for that whole Henry Kissinger travesty.
Then I sent my brother a text message telling him the news. He texted me back. “For what? Ending Iraq? Ending Afghanistan? Closing Gitmo? Making universal health care a reality? Ensuring our right to electronic privacy?”
And that’s when I had my third thought:
“… for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples…”
That’s part of what The Nobel Foundation had to say about President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to get embroiled in a political controversy today, but that may be unavoidable. Listen. Obama’s not perfect. I know a lot of people who support him are disappointed by some of the things he has not accomplished. And you may or may not have valid arguments. I just want to remind everyone that the Nobel Peace Prize is an international award. It has nothing to do with our domestic concerns. And if you don’t think Obama has made an enormous difference in our image on the international scene, if you don’t think he’s given people all over the world hope enough to dream of a better tomorrow, if you don’t think that since he won the election American expats everywhere have stopped letting people assume they’re Canadian…
Then I just don’t know what.
[Edited to add this fantastic and illuminating quote from the AP article, "Common Misperceptions about the Nobel Peace Prize":
Myth: The prize is awarded to recognize efforts for peace, human rights and democracy only after they have proven successful. More often, the prize is awarded to encourage those who receive it to see the effort through, sometimes at critical moments.]
Posted on October 9th, 2009 under Grenada • Tags: expat, international community, living abroad, maria being maria, nobel peace prize, obama, politics. • 
Print This Post
• 
Email This Post
• RSS 2.0 feed • Both comments and pings are currently closed
October 9th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Don’t get me started. I nearly had a twitter fight this morning about this damn peace prize.
To go off on a different tangent though, I think MICHELLE Obama should get a bloody Peace Prize for enduring an unending barrage of insults, bigotry, misogyny, racism, sexism and unfounded hatred, all with her fabulous grace and dignity.
October 9th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
[...] Letters from Grenada writes: Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. That’s so damn beautiful my nipples are hard. [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Amen to that! My grandmother used to say that the only way to accept a complement is to say thank you, gracefully. Mr. Obama managed to do that in fine form. We could all learn from him.
October 9th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
[...] Letters from Grenada writes: Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. That’s so damn beautiful my nipples are hard. [...]
December 11th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
[...] I wrote previously, my initial reaction to the news that Obama had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was not only [...]