Obama wins Nobel in final dig at Bush

October 9, 11:11 AMLA Energy Policy ExaminerAlexander Lennartz

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the LA Energy Policy Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

The winner is: not George W. Bush

Barack Obama continues to reap the windfall of not being George W. Bush. The Nobel Prize Committee shockingly awarded the President their Peace Prize Friday, despite the fact Mr. Obama has not yet achieved any substantial accomplishments (as expertly put by Saturday Night Live the week previous) in war or energy, which are deeply interrelated. The latter seems to cause the former. 

This award has to be seen as the second swipe at the now out of office Bush administration by the Nobel Committee. During the run up to the Iraq war, Jimmy Carter was chosen as a way to express the international community’s ire at Bush 43. Judging by this award, the international hatred of Bush is still as strong as it was when W. was in office. Obama continues to fuel his popularity simply by not continuing the last President’s terrible policies, but how much longer must the world wait for Obama to start repairing the damage done by his predecessor? 

Obama (unlike Bush) says the right things, but so far has not at all been effective in fulfilling his promises to promptly close the Guantanamo Bay detention center and end America’s wars. The President is even ratcheting up the war in Afghanistan by proposing more troops. Prolonging America’s bloody, expensive and seemingly endless wars seem unlike to actions that deserve that that little gold disc. 

With such a scant record of achievement did Barack Obama deserve to become a Nobel Prize winner take away the fact that he is not Bush? So far the international reaction has been mixed. A speech to the Muslim World in Cairo and some abstract quotes about the end of nuclear weapons are well and good, but do not a Nobel Peace Prize winner make. It seems that expectations in America have been so reduced through the previous administration that simply not starting new wars is grounds enough to be merited high honors. 

Let us all treat this as what it is: one final kick of the dead horse that is George W. Bush. The former President torpedoed the world economy, started two wars and shredded America’s international reputation to the point that the next man to take office only need to say the opposite of Bush, not successfully enact any policy mind you, but merely approach the international audience with the inverse of Bush’s rhetoric to receive one of humanity’s highest awards.

The Europeans are treating America’s international standing like they do to a soccer team in their national leagues. For example, if a team in Germany finishes in the bottom three of the league, they are relegated to a lesser division. If that team finishes in the bottom three again, they go down another division and so on until the club is no longer plays professionally. Bush relegated America’ standing to the equivalent of amateur soccer. Clearly, this is not where the country belongs. Now that Bush is out of office, the Obama-led US should focus on concrete results, not just words to promote the US back to the main stage of international relations.