On Friday, October 2, 2009, Mr. Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, did something any American president has never done: he appeared in person before the Olympic Committee in Copenhagen, Denmark, and made an all-out pitch for Chicago, his adopted hometown, to host the 2016 Olympic games. Even some ardent supporters of the president saw his attempt as naive, as misplaced priority, in the face of so many national priorities on his slate.
For their part, the president's political enemies regarded his Olympic pitch as arrogance, as in, "Here he goes again, so full of messianic complex! He thinks he can do all things any time anywhere for everyone. Just who does he think he is?!"
And when the American president was handed a shame basket of global proportions, equal to a public spanking in front of the watching eyes of the whole world, conservatives revel in President Obama's embarrassing disappointment. They were rejoicing while the President was weeping.
But then one week later, Oslo gave back what Copenhagen took away, as the Nobel Committee, meeting in Oslo, Norway, picked Mr. Obama as recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, clearly an honor far superior to bringing the Olympic Games to Chicago, or any medal associated with the Olympics for that matter.
How did conservatives respond this time? With raving outrage. "What a joke! The Nobel Committee has sunk to the depths of pure, partisan politics. It's affirmative action time in Oslo. What the Committee has done is cheapen the value of the Peace Prize." They were weeping while the President was rejoicing.
The Apostle Paul's admonition to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep has been turned on its head by those who for the most part claim be the real followers of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Religion is fond of creating lip servants of God.
Mr. Barack Obama is not the first American president to be awarded the prestigious prize. Very few voices, if any, ever questioned the reasons why the other three presidents got the prize -- Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president in 1905; Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president in 1919; Jimmy Carter, the 39th president in 2002.
So why the ear-bursting uproar when President was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? To which my right-wing friends respond, "You mean you don't know why we're angry? Obama has done nothing to deserve the Peace Prize. Nothing whatsoever!"
Does not envy have no part in this angry refusal to see the President's Peace Prize as America's win, at least to some extent? Oh the darkness of blind jealousy!
Others may disagree, but it is a big deal for President Obama to have changed the tone in the dialog among world leaders from constantly hostile just months ago to mostly civil now. While that may be far less than achieving world peace, it certainly contributes to the agenda or atmosphere of peace. If the man can get everyone to stop yelling at each other in the room, then I say, give him a big pat on the back, say, with a Peace Prize, so he can go all out in the cause of peace.
The real question about President Obama and his Peace Token is how his new crown as Man of Peace will affect his decisions about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Will Obama still order a troop surge in Afghanistan on one hand, with the Peace Trophy in the other hand? Strange mix there...
Unlike his predecessors who received the Prize atop mounds of past achievements, Obama was awarded the Prize forward, for real peace he has yet to achieve. How odd it will be if this messenger of peace continues to order the dropping of bombs and the shedding of blood in these two misguided wars that can in no way save the world? This War On Terror is no World War I or World War II. It would very anti-peace, won't it, if the Nobel Prize does nothing to scale down Obama's war-time president image?
Frankly, Mr. Obama looks weird in military uniforms, ready to unload bullets or rain down bombs.
So, President Obama, since you have been declared Mr. Peacemaker, will you now exercise what it takes to end the pseudo War On Terror much sooner than later? I doubt those who voted for you expected you to live up to your war promise, and very few people will ever take you seriously as a Man O' War. Don't even try to prove them wrong. It's better to live up to what you do best, what you were born for: Peace in the World Community. That's who you are: Community Organizer, Peacemaker.
You can't please the warmongers anyway, so why postpone their displeasure of ending the bloodshed in Afghanistan and Iraq? The sooner the better. Your haters will continue to hate you, and your fans will continue to applaud you. So be brave, Peace Soldier. End the war abruptly. Give the bombers something to fight about. That's the fight millions of us would like to see, beginning now, while your Peace Prize is still steaming hot. This is the moment. Seize it, and prove to the doubters that you really do deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.
Or maybe I'm just too chicken, like the Nobel Committee...
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