ManicDDaily

Obama  wins the Nobel Peace Prize.  I am so happy for him, and so happy for the world.

Yes, it is early.  Yes, it’s hard to point to results.  But I’m not sure that those Peace Prize winners who are major political leaders (and not leaders of  more containable movements and organizations) can ever point to lasting results.   That’s one of the age-old problems of our world—the endless wars and rumors of wars.

The committee has even admitted that the award was given to Obama to support and encourage his efforts as well as to reward them.

But it’s ridiculous to say that awarding the prize to Obama somehow cheapens the prize or is undeserved.

The fact is that Obama, even by the act of getting himself elected (before he even became President),  has radically changed the international climate.  These changes were not just made in diplomatic relations but in the hearts and minds of billions of people.  A sense of possibility opened.  It’s clichéd, but still true.  All over the world—Arabs, Africans, Asians, Europeans, South Americans, even Americans themselves—were shown that what had seemed unthinkable in the not very distant past was not only thinkable, but actual, real, had happened.   A black man was elected as President of the United States!  A man with an African father, a unusual (some might say, strange) anthropologist mother, and a very strong very American black wife was elected President of the United States!  A man who’d made money, not in business or through his family, or (God forbid) in politics, but as a writer was elected President of the United States!   A man, with an international background and outlook,  who understood (even before a presidential briefing) the difference between Sunni and Shia, was elected President of the United States!

I say this not to minimize Obama’s efforts as President, but to point out that Obama’s accomplishment of  becoming President itself promoted a greater sense of the possibility of peace in the world, of the progress of justice and fair play, and, perhaps more critically, of the importance of the individual.  His election brought a sense that an individual could accomplish great things.

His election also almost immediately created a more benign image of the U.S. in the world;  (the country was suddenly seen more as earnest good guy than self-righteous bully, or at least as trying to be earnest, trying to be good.  I, for one, count that as a step forward on the road to peace.)

It’s true that since his election, it is easier to point to Obama’s efforts rather than accomplishments.  The types of accomplishments that he is trying for are beyond the achievement of one person (despite the importance of the individual!).   But he openly recognizes that these accomplishments demand the cooperation and agreement of other parties, and he is working hard.

I don’t think awards go to Obama’s head.  I think/hope he’s more balanced than that, and more realistic.  (He also has that strong wife I mentioned before.)   The only thing that worries me is whether this kind of lionization will attract even more enemies to him, more crazies with guns.  Here, I think all Americans, even those on the other side of the political camp, could work together to absolutely condemn the crazy-talk, the heedlessly violent terminology, and hope and pray that Obama, and all about him, are kept safe.