There are legitimate criticisms of the Nobel Peace Prize and several past winners to whom it was awarded. I have always been critical that past recipients included Yasser Arafat and Henry Kissinger. Others too have noted legitimate issues of past winners, again, Arafat being a prime example of a poor choice.
Having said that, the Nobel Peace Prize in general and through an overall history of good choices, bestows an important honor on its recipient. When that recipient happens to be the leader of a nation - representing his country all over the world - then that honor is also bestowed on the citizens of that nation.
President Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in diplomacy, a concept this nation abandoned years ago for the policy of pre-emptive, endless war. The world has shunned us for our kill, kill, kill policies and we have lost standing. So not only is this win an important accomplishment in mending our image and illustrating to the world that we are a peace-loving nation, it is that much more important that our President won the Nobel Peace Prize while in office for only 9 months and following on the heels of the most violent and unethical administration in US history.
I also think there are legitimate criticisms of not just the Nobel Peace Prize for some of its past recipients, but also as in the choice of President Obama as the latest winner of the award.
The political climate we live in
I for one don't think Obama has gone far enough in ending the many violent and destructive policies of the previous administration. But then again, I also live in this reality and have watched the changes Obama has made being attacked by right-wing extremists as a move toward socialism, communism, fascism, and every "ism" they could muster.
He has been called a democracy hating commie for his condemnation of the military coup in Honduras.
He has been denounced as evil incarnate for daring to attempt the closing of Gitmo and suggesting that the people being held there be brought into US prisons. When the psychotics on the right side screamed we cannot have terra-terra-ists on our soil, in custody, in secure prisons (as though we don't now have terrorists in domestic prisons), he convinced other nations to take the detainees- for which he was also attacked.
In short, Obama has been attacked for efforts of diplomacy and attempts to dismantle the violence of the previous administration. Although IMHO, he has not gone far enough on many of the issues of diplomacy and ending our illegal war in Iraq - his achievements are still remarkable in this political climate and in such a short-time in office.
The Glennbeckistanians deploy their hatriots
So, while I have no problem with legitimate criticism from both the left and the right (as I have said previously, Little Green Footballs continues to earn my respect) of the Nobel Peace Prize in general and of Obama's award in particular, what I do have a serious problem with is those who attack rather than criticize and not on legitimate points, but out of pure hate.
Let me show you some of these Hatriots in action today (as my good friend Shoq has started calling them):
[MORE BELOW THE FOLD]
Stop the ACLU (the name of the blog should it explain it all):
Yay! Congrats to Barack Obama! He has been awarded the Nobel Appeasement Prize! He has now joined an exclusive club that holds the ranks of such peace lovers as AlGore(2007), Jimmy Carter (2002) and terrorist Yassar Arafat.
Apparently Al Gore, Jimmy Carter are terrorists like Yassar Arafat? Or are they terrorists simply because they are Democrats? And what of the full list of winners that Obama will be joining? People like the 14th Dalai Lama, Elie Wiesel, Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, and Andrei Sakharov, to name a few. Does Obama not join them but only Yassar Arafat? As I noted above, you can disagree with some of the past choices, but overall, the winners have been well deserving, remarkable people. And, as I also already noted, you can be critical of Obama's win based on legitimate issues. But to simply attack Obama and somehow call him a terrorist is not acceptable.
Shiksa Malkin is typically shocked (shocked I tell you) because Obama has done NOTHING to deserve the award:
"From community organizer to Illinois state senator (present!) to U.S. Senator for 143 days before moving into the White House…and now, the recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize — not for anything he’s actually done, but for the symbolism of what he might possibly accomplish sometime way off in the future."
And yet she devotes endless hours in attacking what Obama has done?
I don't get it. Either he has done nothing, in which case she would sit
quietly knitting or he has done something, for which she continuously
attacks him. The latter wins.
But my favorite of the day comes from the drug-addicted, Viagra popping, sex-tourist himself, Rush Limbaugh:
"This fully exposes the illusion that is Barack Obama," Limbaugh told POLITICO in an e-mail. "And with this 'award' the elites of the world are urging Obama, THE MAN OF PEACE, to not do the surge in Afghanistan, not take action against Iran and its nuclear program and to basically continue his intentions to emasculate the United States."
Yep, he outed the conspiracy that clever man. The world leaders got together to give Obama the Nobel Peace Prize to somehow magically have Obama "emasculate the United States."
These people clearly have proved that whatever country they live in, it is not the United State of America, because the US is apparently a nation that they hate. From cheering our loss of the Olympic bid (because Chicago deserved to lose for having given rise to Obama); to openly hoping that Obama's domestic and foreign policies fail - and with those failures, our nation fails (but who cares so long as Obama fails); to calling for a military coup to overthrow a democratically elected leader of the United States; to countless acts and words aimed at destroying the country if that means also destroying their number one target, Obama.
Just to be clear, No, Obama is not the country, is not equal to the country, is not the same thing as the country. But, for the right-wing the country is a necessary casualty in their war on Obama.
