No Doubt Obama Deserves the Nobel!

It is said that Obama has received the Nobel Peace Prize without having any concrete accomplishments. To the contrary, in his eight months in office he has worked for peace in very concrete ways. Take the race question in the United States, still a purulent, throbbing wound that stirs up conflict. Since the eve of his election in his Philadelphia speech until his recent peaceful and pacifying response to the alarmist remarks with which Jimmy Carter evoked the persistence of racial conflict in the Deep South, Obama does not cease repairing, cauterizing, mending, in short, pacifying.

Nor have his actions only been in words. When the planet's most powerful man rallies the UN Security Council to the idea of ending nuclear proliferation, it's hardly a matter of mere words. And what about the hand he extended to Islam in his Cairo speech? It's a speech, but more than a speech since it puts an end to eight years of Bushite stupidities and sounds the death knell on the discourse of the clash of civilizations, which was until now the American response to the war launched by bin Laden. When the president of the United States reaches out to moderate Muslims and tells them that America is their ally not their enemy, it's more than just words. It's an event, a historical event that clearly goes in the direction of peace.

Does Obama do this, some ask, as a Westerner or as a citizen of the world or even as a Muslim? Plainly, he speaks and acts as a Westerner. The Cairo speech is a great Kennedyesque kind of presidential speech which says straight to the Muslim world: we are your friends, your brothers, but it remains for you to achieve what the West has painfully and painstakingly undergone and what you are the only part of the world not yet to have undertaken: exorcising in yourselves and among yourselves, in your memories and your hearts, the memory of fascism in which in the past you have been steeped no less than Westerners -- and which has its continuation in movements like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood.

While a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often held up as something the West must give the Muslim world to advance peace, Obama fully grasps that peace is not just tit-for-tat. Dialogue and peace have to be a common, a shared construction. And Obama has done -- again it is a deed, not just words -- an absolutely enormous thing. His predecessors, Clinton as well as Bush, waited until the final year of their second term to suddenly realize the existence of the Israeli-Palestinian war and to concoct a vague solution that might enhance their legacy. Obama himself has done the opposite. He has thrown himself in motion from the first day of his first term. And he has done it to the chorus of Israeli and Palestinian citizens who cry out in one voice, "Peace Now."

Consider as well his approach to the Iranian problem. Nicolas Sarkozy asserts -- and he's not wrong -- that Tehran is pursuing its nuclear program under the cover of dialogue and negotiation. I assert in turn that El-Baradei and his teams are going to be able to visit the new nuclear site at Qom. To what do we owe this sudden show of "wisdom" on the part of Iranian leaders who are better known for being arrogant? To Obama's mix of firmness and dialogue, which I believe is the only way of being taken seriously in Iran. In other words, never has the perspective of war seemed less credible than today to the leaders in Tehran, and never has the "exit" door of a diplomatic solution been so open. It is because Obama has made this combination of toughness and dialogue, because he has deftly maneuvered through the diplomatico-miltary trap, that he has begun to make the fanatics step back.

Similarly in Afghanistan, Obama is behind a new strategy that goes beyond the idiotic alternative of withdrawal or troop buildup and whose results I think we are going to see very quickly.

Isn't the very idea of giving the Nobel Peace Prize to a sitting head of state who makes war, and may do so tomorrow even more so, ultimately strange? Not if you think, as I do, that the war in Afghanistan is a just war whose sole aim is peace. I am of course sad for the Afghan feminist Sima Samar, the Chinese dissident Hu Jia, and the Colombian Piedad Cordoba, all of whom also merit the prize. But isn't there a point on which paradoxically Obama joins them? President though he is, he too is a person who is clearly, concretely, physically threatened. He too in his own country is someone whom a part of America has literally condemned to death. And he is a man who belongs, if I may put it this way, to two families. The family of those singular men and women whose lives are in danger because of their struggle for peace. And the family of the other great heads of state who have won the Nobel before him, two of whom, Rabin and Sadat, it must be said, ended up being assassinated.

Let us say that from this standpoint the Nobel contributes to providing him "sanctuary." Sanctuary not sanctification. And it considerably reinforces him in dealing with people like Ahmadinejad, the leaders of North Korea, and the Syrians. How will he arrive at his inevitable meeting with Ahmadinejad? With a Nobel Peace Prize in hand, a timely and formidable trump card.

Translated from French by Helene Brenkman.

 

Comments

[mikefina]

The awarding of the Peace Prize to Mr. Obama, just 8 months into his term is laughable. And cynically political.

You may as well congratulate the farmer for scattering seed, never mind that the there has been no germination--let alone harvest.

How does the Arafat prize look today?

[mjtaylor22]

like the commentary, and witht hat peace prize, his negotiotions on the world stage have gotta have more umph.
cause if he has to depend on the minority of americans that are being heard and the media to support him the worlds eye.....he would truly be a laughing stock around the globe because if you based it on the news coverage, every body doubt him even though he keeps hitting the punchig bag and knocking em out.

[Popaluma]

It is not true that the Nobel Committee is a 'laughing stock' around the world: that's merely the catch-cry of the President's critics. I live 'around the world', in two countries, no less (Australia and the UK), and in the main, President Obama's award is strongly endorsed.

The prize is an international award, not American. If the global community can appreciate Barack Obama's efforts in Europe and towards peace and dialogue with the non-Western world then it is entitled to say so and act accordingly. If America doesn't agree, then that's America's opinion, to which it's entitled, but don't expect it to diminish Barack Obama elsewhere.

No matter where anyone's political allegiances lie, I would have thought every American could summon some pride and pleasure in an American President's being honoured and in such a prestigious manner.

[Edouard Josse]

Is there a technical problem on this post ? Indeed, my comment has never been put online. I hope it's saved.

[jcwtts1]

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

[den1953]

I wasn't aware GW Bush was even considered but being he's not warmly welcomed in Europe i can understand why!

[livesimply]

You make some excellent points. Here in the USA it sometimes becomes difficult to see the forest for the trees.

[larry278]

How many 'service' troops is Pres Obama, winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, sending to Afghanistan? It looks like BHO wants a big piece of Afghanistan to go with the piece of Iraq which now is ruled by Iraqis who are also supporters of the USA.

[jcwtts1]

13,000 now but as many as are needed. Note, the above comments, "just war" "War started by Bin Ladin" important to note that we started the Iraq war, they didn't attack us. Afghanistan did.

[Chris]

Mosty of what you point to happened afte rthe Feb 1 deadline for nomination. Either the norwegians have a crystal ball, gave it to Obama based upon campaign rhetoric or as SNL put so well, he is not Bush.

[gargravarr]

He was NOMINATED, not chosen, in February.

[jcwtts1]

He along with hundreds or thousands of people were nominated in feb. His campaign alone was worth the nomination.

J

[donojack]

"Similarly in Afghanistan, Obama is behind a new strategy that goes beyond the idiotic alternative of withdrawal or troop buildup and whose results I think we are going to see very quickly."

Maybe I'm missing something but if you don't do one of those two things then the only thing remaining is to keep the troop levels as they are now. Which ain't working.

But I can't wait to see this "new strategy." Maybe the Taliban will be dazzled by the glow of the Nobel and cease and desist.

[3015551212]

You could have a different strategy beyond merely withdrawing or increasing.

What he means to say is to not only consider increase or decrease, but a change in the scope of the mission or in the purpose of the mission altogether.

The President's concern is insuring the safety of Americans, and if Afghanistan and the border regions of Pakistan a source of concern, security wise, which it seems to be, then he must not only plop troops down, but has to consider different mission scenarios based on desired outcomes.

To chalk it up reactively to only increase or decrease and without any discussion or strategy or nuance is over-simplifying the matter.

[donojack]

What sort of different "mission scenario?" The Peace Corps? Some more Muslim outreach? Involve the UN?

The actual alternatives are clear and straightforward, the decisions are very difficult.

[aofh]

Very well spoken. Afghanistan and Pakistan present a very complex problem. Getting it wrong can have enormous consequences. Pulling our troops and turning our back on the problem doesn't make it go away. Nor does flooding the area with more troops. I'm heartened that this Administration is not taking the matter lightly.

[3015551212]

*is a source

[jcwtts1]

Or maybe we'll negotiate a peace with the moderate members of that cult, and allow them some autonomy in the south of the nation while the rest moves into the 21st century directly from the 19th.

J

[AirForceBlue]

OK, if the basis of the NPP is/are President Obama's words, where have the words provided results?

[jcwtts1]

re read the piece. Iran isn't going to explode and I don't know anyone who thought there was a chance to avert war there. The deal he brokered with Russia 7 months ago is working. Of course you have to actually understand the world to see how it worked. Read the piece above again.

[Mosby12]

Yup, no doubt about it. He has accomplished so much. Maybe the committee should ask nations of Africa who they think should have won it. Georg Bush or Obama. Although you would never see it on this site or others like it, George Bush did an incredible job of fighting AIDS in Africa and saving hundreds of thousands of lives... but don't let this fact get in the way of your hatred for Bush... it wouldn't be any fun.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/10/12/bush-deserves-praise-committment-africa/#

[livesimply]

Bush did do a great job fighting AIDS in Africa. That was very commendable. Unfortunately what he did here and how he dealt with our "enemies" (feels so strange that word) was a disaster. Obama does not frame others in terms of enemies.

[AirForceBlue]

No, enemy is not a word in a pacifist's vocabulary.

[FoonTheElder]

There is a long line of questionable Nobel Peace Prize winners. Many are notable for negotiating a peace treaty after spending most of the rest of their lifetime encouraging wars.

Henry Kissinger, Le Duc Tho, Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin, Theodore Roosevelt, Yassir Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, George Marshall, among others.

[dogisgreat]

Add war lord Woodrow Wilson to your list.

[letgo-hate]

well said, I believe we should pull out of Afganistan and fight terrorist another way but otherwise I this arguement well stated

[Wozzeck]

The article is framed as though Obama, with his newly-enhanced world status, will be better to force the 'bad guys' to comply with the demands of the 'good guys'. The reality is that the USA and its 'special friend' have not been forces for world peace. Obama will need his enhanced stature to deal with the destabilizing forces of the US military-i­ndustrial-­congressio­nal complex as well as those of the Israeli right and their domestic supporters here.