Nerve Endings Firing Away

It is three days now after the surprising announcement that Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and everyone’s grandma has had an opinion about it. Most of the reaction has been that of surprise. Most (rightly) believe that he hasn’t done much to deserve the award yet while some others believe that the award is now meaningless. The official tone in American political circles is congratulatory while snickering behind closed doors. There are hazaar jokes about awarding him the Oscar for his speeches, Pulitzer for his memoirs, and even other Nobels for his “great chemistry with Michelle”. The joke that he got the prize for not being Bush is the one that hits home and is almost accurate in analysis but isn’t it a resounding commentary against Bush? Perhaps Hillary Clinton is ruing her lost opportunity.

And its all fun and dandy and made for comedy gold but at the end of the day, not many are blaming Obama for getting the award. Why should they, right? After all, it is the opinion of five Norwegians appointed by the Norwegian Parliament. Heck, it is as political as it can get. No one denies that it reflects the political opinion and editorializing of Western (Scandanavian?) political bloc. Of course, they are going to be mighty relieved that George W. Bush isn’t the President anymore and preemptively burden his successor with the duties of a responsible superpower in addition to holding his feet to the fire in regards to his lofty campaign promises.Whew! Yup, any President of the U.S. would kill for that.

But then, there are those few whackjobs (there always are a few, right?) who equate the Nobel prize with terrorism because it was given to Yasir Arafat so ergo, Obama is a terrorist (but not Mother Teresa, Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi). Such people (not terrorists) don’t get the irony that they in fact are in agreement with other terrorist groups like the Taliban and Al Qaeda who also denounce the award because he has not made peace with them. Some have suggested that Obama should send a war widow to accept the award. But if you hate the award so much and consider it meaningless, why would you want to do that? If the Peace Prize has lost its sheen because it was given to Kissinger, Arafat, and now Obama, we all would ignore it when it is announced next year, right? Promise not to jump in joy when it is awarded to a person whom you think deserves it? These people are the ones who denounce the Peace Prize as meaningless and yet would argue that George Bush should get it because he spread freedom and democracy in Iraq. So you want your hero to get a meaningless award? Or you want your hero to give meaning to an award that is decided by six Norwegians who couldn’t care less what you think? The result, it gives rise to certain crazy people with a sense of entitlement over something they virtually have no control over. People like Bill Kristol, Liz Cheney, or Michael Steele are out there criticizing the President every day on any trivial issue using illogical arguments, so their outrage on this issue seems like “me too, me too”.

There are plenty of legitimate criticisms of Obama being awarded the Nobel and heck, I’ve made my share of them either on this blog or on Twitter. But for his usual band of naysayers in the conservative circles who couldn’t care less about the Nobel anyway, this bandwagon is full. I’m sure no one is stopping you from donating couple of million dollars to a foundation and starting your own Peace Prize. It will eventually catch on. As for the Nobel Peace Prize, if it indeed is or has been rendered meaningless, people will eventually tire of it and not wait for next year’s announcement with bated breath. But if I were you, I wouldn’t hold my breath. People have a short memory and if a war criminal like Kissinger or a terrorist like Arafat couldn’t take away the Nobel’s sheen, I doubt an underachiever (yet) like Obama would do any harm. We are like this only :)

On a more constructive note, Chris Good asks:

“If you think Obama’s Nobel Prize was a bit of a reach, who do you think should have gotten it? And if you think he deserved it, who, in your mind, was second?”

Remember, that this prize cannot be awarded posthumously; surprisingly, not everyone knows this commonly-known fact; even the esteemed colleagues of those who point us to this fact. Why the heck do you think Gandhi never won it? Stupid rule, I know.