Getting His Peace of the Pie

There are two things I want to say right off the bat about President Barack Obama’s receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Congratulations.

And: Why?

I’m confused.

It’s not that I don’t think Obama deserves scads of recognition for his intelligence, his Zen-like calm in the face of the madness around him, his lovely family, breaking the color barrier in the presidency, coming up from humble roots to achieve great success, and so much more.

The man’s done a lot in a relatively short time, and I have great respect for him and I want him to succeed.

But a Nobel Peace Prize?

I think the Nobel folks stretched it a bit to say that he has ushered in a new atmosphere conducive to peace. I mean, he’s less than a year into his term, we’re about to up the number of troops in Afghanistan, and there are people right here in the United States who aren’t afraid to make it known in public demonstrations that they want him dead.

Peace?

Of all the things with which to honor our president, to give him the Nobel Peace Prize right now seems ludicrous.

For one thing, it feels like the time that Al Pacino got the Oscar for “Scent of  Woman,” in which he chewed up scenery like a puppy with a new slipper. It was some of his weakest work, and yet he got one of those nice Academy Award statuettes because had always lost out on his many great roles in past Oscar ceremonies. Except with the Nobel Peace Prize, I feel like it’s the world giving the United States an award for finally electing a black man. Almost like they said to themselves, “Gee, we’ve been awfully hard on the United States for a long time, but they have done some good things…very good things…among the bad, and they did an outstanding job in World War II, so let’s give them some recognition by giving their besieged president the peace prize.”

For another thing, did the Nobel Prize people even think about what this means for Obama? Sure, they’ve ensured that he’ll make even more money now on his post-presidential lecture circuit. But now, with a Nobel Peace Prize, he has to deliver some peace, damn it…serious peace…or he will be dragged over the coals by people in this country. Now he has to live up the award he’s been given. The man has enough on his plate trying to right our economy and get something resembling healthcare reform without having a peace prize standard of achievement hanging over his head as well.

I like Obama a lot. I want him to succeed.

I don’t like that he got a Nobel Peace Prize.

I’m still scratching my head.

And groaning.

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