A Nobel Prayer
I got the first call at 6:30 a.m. from a reporter: "What's your reaction to Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize?" "What?" I answered, and then had the presence of mind to say, "Call me back when I'm awake." My surprise sounded much like Obama's, when he was awakened with the news a half hour earlier than I was. Given what my Friday was like, I didn't get a chance to do a post or interviews about it all. But over the weekend, in the midst of my usual baseball coaching and full-scale family activities, I did keep my eyes and ears open to the responses of other people. "WOW" is all I can say to the cavalcade of abuse heaped on the new president, whom they said so far had "accomplished nothing!"
Martin Luther King Jr. won this award, along with Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and an array of courageous heroes for peace, justice, and human rights. Most suffered greatly, all sacrificed a great deal, and some were eventually killed for their witness to a different kind of world. The committee has sometimes slipped -- never giving the award to Gandhi, but once to Henry Kissinger. But the collection of people who have been honored with the world's most notable prize for peace is pretty impressive company to be in.
President Obama was actually appropriately humble in admitting in his statement that he didn't "deserve" to be in such company. Instead he said that he would accept the honor as "a call to action." May it be so, I say. To state that the award was "premature," as many did, is not an unreasonable opinion; thus far, the very early stages of this new presidency have been characterized, quite reasonably, by more expressions of commitment and intent than by the results of those words.
But those words, intents, and commitments have already struck a very hopeful tone that the rest of the world has noticed -- and that was the real reason for the award. It is a quite welcome and quite different tone than the world has seen and heard from the U.S. for some time. And the award says very clearly that most of the world is glad for the change -- even if it's mostly just a change in words so far.
It is the offer to engage rather than the threat to dominate, the desire to work together rather than to dictate terms, a multinational approach rather than a go it alone foreign policy, a whole new approach to the Muslim world rather than fulfillment of the prophecy of a "clash of civilizations," a willingness to challenge both sides in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, and apparently even a deep personal commitment to move us toward "a world without nuclear weapons." Even if those are all just words so far, they are very hopeful and very welcome words to most of the world.
But ah -- not to Obama's critics! You see, it's not that they just think the award is premature, because he has only offered words and not many deeds; it is that they are totally against the intent and commitments of Obama's words. That's the issue. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill Kristol, Lynne Cheney, Christopher Hitchens, and all the other apologists of the old order that I heard raging against Obama this weekend, want the opposite of all the things the new president says he is for. They want the opposite of all the new tone and directions cited above, and the re-assertion of a world dominated by the military might of one superpower, which they unabashedly claim is the only way to "peace."
The vitriol against Obama's peace prize and "those Norwegians" who gave it to him is much deeper than the president's lack of achievements thus far; it is based on a fundamental clash of worldviews. But the bad news for the old order advocates is that more and more Americans are rejecting their view of the world, embracing new global realities and possibilities, and are glad that much of the world is now viewing their country in a more positive light.
The best description I read of what the Nobel Peace Prize might mean for Obama and the U.S. was embedded in a long article in The New York Times which called it "a prayer." Indeed, may the granting of this prize not just be an award to a young and yet unaccomplished president; may it also be a prayer for the U.S. itself, to lead in a new way and to seek a fundamentally different approach to the many global decisions that this new president will now have to make.
Jim Wallis is the author of The Great Awakening
Follow Jim Wallis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jimwallis
Huffington Post: Obama's Nobel Peace Prize: HuffPost Bloggers Weigh In
President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize early Friday morning, and HuffPost bloggers have offered opinions that range from skeptical to angry to adulatory.
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Thank you Jim Wallis.
President Obama's offer for the U.S. to engage the world rather than perpetuating the old order's threat to dominate has greatly threatened Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill Kristol, Lynne Cheney, Christopher Hitchens, and all the other apologists of the old order. I join Rev. Wallis in praying that the old order has, indeed, passed away. Let's bury it in History's sad chapters. We've been on the road to ruin. There's much work to be done from this point forward. Amen.
I absolutely agree with you. I have been thinking this and telling people this from the moment I heard President Obama won. Scandinavia is different from America; they tried violence during the Viking days and found it had no future. They want peace, respect for all, prosperity for all, human rights and dignity for all. Finally an American president says we (the US) will not stomp all over the world telling the world what we want and what we will do. We need to come in peace (as we said on the plaque on Voyager and on the moon. They are hoping to stiffen his backbone and cement his courage to do the right thing and to be a true part of the world community. Ya sure You betcha! (A Swedish comment not attributed to Sarah Palin.)
It is so good to hear some sense made of the whole hoop-la around Obama's winning the Nobel prize. I just wish there was more of an honest and intelligent debate coming out of the GOP, and about real issues. I'm getting so weary of the fluff, the hysteria, the misinterpretation. As our economy stands in ruins, unemployment rises and two wars are waged, we are wading through all this rubbish.
I posted in another article somewhere else on this site that I just had dinner last night with a friend and her neo-con husband (none of us, 10 years later, can figure out why she married him and how she hasn't un-married him yet but to each his/her own). We got into a discussion (correction: I was coerced/dragged/duped into a discussion) about Obama, his presidency, and this peace prize.
Basically what I was told was that Obama could end world poverty, hunger, war, and prove he really IS Jesus in disguise and the conservative base would still hate him. There is nothing he can do that will make them like him. He can save kittens in trees, find a cure for cancer, give every single person in America a nice home with central heat/air and running water, pay everyone's bills for 10 years and they will STILL have beef with Obama.
And so I say: you know what Barack? Eff them. Go all rogue on the conservatives and do what you need to do to be who you really are. And accept awards from other places all over the world. It gives your neo-con haters indigestion issues at "friendly" dinners. Go for it, Barack O.
Too true. I've had similar experiences and I've come to that same conclusion. It's so frustrating, because people like that make a conscious effort to ignore positive attributes and good deeds of people that have differing political views. It's a refusal to acknowledge that a step forward for America is a good thing, regardless of the president's political party. And at its core, it's a very selfish viewpoint.
I enjoyed this article but I wonder what makes people think that it is their prerogative to "vote" on every decision made by people whom they did not elect? The very same people who would not want government to have any say in how they run their households or raise their children apparently think they have a right to tell the Nobel Prize Committee how to do their job! The Committee is charged with the responsibility, and they do their job according to the rules and principles that guide them. They didn't ask us whom they should choose or open it up to allow us to press a button on our remote control. This whole debate is ridiculous and typical of right wing misdirection, attempting to keep our eyes off the things that really matter. Outside the United States, President Obama is highly respected for changing the climate from a country led by a "cowboy gunslinger" who shot first and asked questions later to a country that chose a calm, stable and, wise constitutional scholar who understands the value of negotiation and respect. I don't think it's any of our business whom the Nobel Prize Committee selected. It's their call.
My feelings exactly. Well put. :-)
I am with your position all the way. You said it well! The decision of the Committe was the decision of an independent world body having nothing to do with the politics of this nation. Thank you.
That is it. You have nailed it. Finally it all makes sense.
It is funny but some people actually prefer to be feared than loved.
Mr. Wallis thank You, for this timely article. Let me say first, whenever they may have decided to have given this fine president this award, some would have not liked it. In my 40 years of being on this earth and during the time I started to vote I have never seen so much hate because of this president recieving the Nobel Peace Prize, you would have thought he was over the Nobel Peace Prize committe and he told them to pick him. The committe clearly, stated why they chose him whether some thought it was to early for him or not he is recieving it. Also we have to remember this america is not the same america as 35years ago and the Beck, Limbaugh, Chaney, have to take off the rose colored glasses and they would see it also. There party lost because the people wanted change change that was badly needed. Whether President Obama, gets another term as president does not matter their way of thinking will never get them back in office. President Obama's mission was to mend the broken fence we had with other countries and he has so for done a great job at it, because the leaders from those other countries after meeting him, were changed by listening to this man, I think that alone shows he has the capability to get things done.
Excellent contribution to this discussion. Thank you.
-Cynthia
The folks complaining the most would be opposed to an Obama Peace prize under any circumstance. It's not the timing that has provoked their rancor.
Methink Obama got the prize coz' this time around there weren't much competition. C'mon give the man a break you cannot compare him with Mother Teresa and Mandala, these people are as rare as the Blue diamond..
That's probably part of it. But teh Nobel Committee also quite often award the Prize as an encouragement, a way to try and force the receipient to live up to the honour. Sometimes it works (Jimmy Carter), sometimes it doesn't (Yasir Arafat).
When last in Norway I was on a bus in Bergen, looking at some fancy houses as we descended a hill towards the train station. (Fantastic trains by the way, really wide and comfy.) Out loud I marveled at the large houses with big front gardens, and the lady sitting next to me told me that I was looking at the projects.
Ha. Yes, those darn social-engineering Norwegians! Giving poor people nice housing is such a sneaky socialistic thing to do.
In Scandinavia the nail that sticks up gets pounded down. They do not believe in being ostentatious or in putting on airs. It is looked down upon. They want everyone to have a chance to have a good life. They remember when the countries were so poor that people sold themselves into indentured servitude (it often turned into slavery) or fled to America (not for freedom, they were free to starve, they wanted jobs and food) and vowed never to let that happen again. Proud of my heritage. Oh if only America could see the benefits of taking care of all of it's people so they could be good citizens.
SHORTER : "We are jealous as hell"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq28qCklEHc
Look, it comes down to this; they didn't win it, he did! This is the kind of stuff that deserves to be left on the grade school playground. It's too bad that one of our countries political parties is that immature!
AMEN. You're right on track.
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