Obama’s Nobel: Premature Adulation
As thrilled as I am that the world has such a positive view of Obama, for him to be given the Nobel Peace Prize at this stage of this presidency is premature adulation.
I was at my computer frantically trying to finish a book chapter in the wee hours this morning when I noticed a tweet saying Obama had won the Nobel. I thought it was one of those Twitter rumors that spread like wildfire, but it piqued my interest enough that I clicked BBC, CNN, and AP until I was convinced this was no hoax.
My first reaction was a feeling in the pit of my stomach that winning this global prize so soon on his presidency would be a political loss at home. It’s not going to help him pass health care, and there’s going to be a lot of skepticism—not just from the right–about whether he’s earned such an honor yet. Because he hasn’t, really.
And I hope there is never a hint that any kind of campaign was waged for him to receive the prize, for that would devastate his standing and sully the honor.
No matter about any of that, I still see a hugely important message to America in this award. It starts with “Thank you.” The same “breathing out” moment many of us had when Obama won the election reverberated around the globe, and it was as much about what a bad leader George Bush was on the world stage as how good Obama might be. So the promise of Obama is almost as important as the performance.
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When you are taking on a leadership position, it’s always wise to follow someone who has made a big mess, as Bush did so egregiously, with world opinion. But Obama as leader of the free world is not just a breath of fresh air, he’s also a global citizen who respects and walks easily in multiple cultures. The un-Bush. The beautiful American with the winning smile. Our standing in the world has skyrocketed since Obama’s election. We’re the 900 pound gorilla, and voters need to need to realize how important a message it is to the rest of the world that we elected a president who believes in talking before pulling the trigger.
So I’m happy about all this. But still, it would be better for Obama’s standing in the U.S. for him to have received it a few years hence.
GLORIA FELDT is the New York Times bestselling author of several books including No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power, a sought-after speaker and frequent contributor to major news outlets, and the Co-Founder and President of Take The Lead. People has called her “the voice of experience,” and among the many honors she has been given, Vanity Fair called her one of America’s “Top 200 Women Legends, Leaders, and Trailblazers,” and Glamour chose her as a “Woman of the Year.”
As co-founder and president of Take The Lead, a leading women’s leadership nonprofit, her mission is to achieve gender parity by 2025 through innovative training programs, workshops, a groundbreaking 50 Women Can Change The World immersive, online courses, a free weekly newsletter, and events including a monthly Virtual Happy Hour program and a Take The Lead Day symposium that reached over 400,000 women globally in 2017.
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Christopher Atwell
Reasonably worded and thought out response, Gloria. A president conducting two wars seems a weird choice for such a prize. On the other hand, it’s impossible to overstate the effect his presence on the world stage has had on how the U.S. is now viewed globally compared to the Bush years. Frankly, the reaction of some of the more critical progressives has struck me as even more childish than the knee-jerk cheerleading going on among Obama’s excessively enthusiastic supporters.
Laura Wilson
I’m afraid I have to agree. Obama hasn’t staked out a principled issue on the major peace issues facing America yet, particularly Afghanistan, and that makes this award seem empty, at best. Sigh. Oh, how I wish he really did deserve it, though, because he did bring us out of the Bush darkness..
Boris Denisov
Probably Obama is more popular outside of the US similar to Gorbachov who also has Grammy 🙂
Mary Jean Collins
I think President Obama has changed the world more than progressives in USA seem to understand. Things change more when people believe they can. Hope is not just a slogan
Christine Weason
I heard that the deadline for submission of candidates for this Nobel prize occurred when Obama had only been in office for 18 days. Anyone know if this is true? If so, how can a person be awarded a Nobel prize – particularly a president for only 18 days of work? If this is the case, were they basing their decision on campaign promises? or is this just positive reinforcement for work yet to be done?
Donna Barbanell Dewberry
I think it is the highest honor for our President and our Country. He has a lot of work to do, but I am proud today.
Vaughn Keller from Facebook
One of the conundrums for any world leader is to navigate between the dangers and threats of unscrupulous power wielders and putting innocent people at risk in an effort to reduce their power. Sometimes we are the innocents as in 9-11. Sometimes the innocents are strangers to us as in Darfur. Sometimes the risks are beyond our imagination as with North Korea and Iran obtaining the capacity to deliver atomic weapons.
While I believe Obama will do his best to navigate this terraine, he hasn’t done so yet. I believe he was surprised that he was awarded the Nobel prize and he should have been. I don’t think awarding him the prize served him or the world.
his prize was awarded on hope that Obama will live up to his promises. Most of the world is relieved to be rid of Bush, but how much has US foreign policy really changed, in substance, as opposed to style? Obama comes off as a sensible diplomat, but plenty of people in the world do not see the change he promised. Aside from the two nations USA is illegally occupying, the people of Pakistan and Palestine come to mind. The pressure put on the Palestinians to ask the UN to shelve the Goldstone report was utterly disgusting. A Pakistani Senator called the aid package Congress just passed “the charter for new colonization.” Let us not forget Henry Kissinger was also awarded this prize. Obama is another warmonger; he just is not quite as foolhardy and blatant about it. If anyone wants to know how I can say that, read my pre-election blog entry, The Peace Candidate is Anything But
Yes, Aletha, I this prize has a great deal to do with the world’s hope for Obama.
Political leaders always disappoint, and Obama raised hopes so much that the depth of disappointment people feel is also deep. Thanks for sharing the link to your post.
The Nobel Prize committee, and many voters failed to read Mr. Obama’s plan for America from his campaign. Mr. Obama plan was to increase the troops in Afghanistan.
Cables, in general, I think that the press and the public were so enamored of Obama’s persona that they neglected to look at his words as well as his past performance. He’s not inclined toward fundamental change, but rather toward more incremental change that doesn’t cause too much political fallout.