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Is the Nobel Peace Prize a good thing for Barack Obama?
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Jay Sekulow of the conservative American Center for Law and Justice called Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize accolade “Outrageous.” Sekulow also added “Who gives awards to a president in office for nine months?” With past Nobel Peace Prize winners such as Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr. and The Dalai Lama, Barack Obama has some gigantic shoes to fill.
Some are confused as to how an American president involved in a war in Iraq and Afghanistan can receive a prize of peace. Past winners such as Martin Luther King Jr. and the Dalai Lama have nothing to do with violence. Along with Gandhi, Dorothy Day and Cesar Chavez these people have stood by the conviction of nonviolence. It is nearly impossible for any president to remain nonviolent and successfully run a country using nonviolence. Barack Obama is no apartheid wrangler such as Nelson Mandela and he did not bring peace to the sanitation strikes in Memphis, Tennessee during the civil rights movement. So what has Barack Obama done? There is no doubt Barack Obama has already made great strides towards giving the United States a more diplomatic and peaceful identity. During President Obama’s first week in office he signed the documents to have the infamous Guantanamo Bay closed. Obama has also made moves to wind down the war in Iraq and to finally bring some troops home. War is war though and Gandhi would agree that war has never been the closest cousin of peace.
The next question is, why Barack Obama? Why not someone else? Why not one of the unsung heroes that every town has? A town where someone who has no money is using there last dime on someone who doesn’t even have a job, home or community. The honorable mentions are too many to count but they could involve such people as Greg Mortenson, Mohammad Othman and Mohamed Adam Yahya.
Greg Mortenson who is the author of Three Cups of Tea is doing miraculous things in the Middle East. All for peace Mortenson has traveled through Pakistan combating fatwas, poverty, death threats from Americans who call him a traitor and even a horrific kidnapping. Mortenson’s goal is to build bridges between different cultures and religions. Greg Mortenson has been bringing Muslim and Jewish children together in order to stop the hate from its foundation.
Mohammad Othman was detained by Israeli occupation forces on the 22nd of September, 2009. Mohammad was arrested trying to return to the West Bank over the border from Jordan. The past 10 years Mohammad has invested his time in touring Europe and preaching nonviolence to combat the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank.
Mohamed Adam Yahya is a refugee from Darfur and the founder of the Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy. The organization was founded to spread the word of human rights of Darfuris in exile.
The list could go on an on for honorable mentions. President Obama said it himself that he did not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. Aside from the humbleness it is a hard accolade for a president to receive. President Obama receives his briefings every morning about the numerous terrorist threats across the world. Obama knows that peace is not always the safest way to run a country and the Nobel Peace Prize could put some strange burdens on his decisions ahead. One of Obama’s main objectives is to give America a more peaceful name around the world. As any great president has had to do, he will need to find a balance between, security, war, liberties, rights and safety.
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