The Nobel Prize, Credibility Squandered

I normally save my political opinions for my other blog… but since I don’t ever update my other blogs, I think I’ll just do it here and be done with it.

I try to not be a hater, and I try to like President Obama. He seems like a really nice guy, and when I hear him talk, I like the things he says... as he says them. Unfortunately, after he gets finished talking, I find myself struggling to swallow any of it.

Now, don't think I'm some crazy-right-wing-nut, I've been accused of being too conservative by some of my more liberal friends... but then I've been accused of being too liberal by some of my conservative friends, so I gave up trying to appease everybody and have contented myself with being myself and having my own views, regardless of others.

Here's the meat: Extreme liberal values are harmful to the masses. The idea to "spread the wealth" is damaging to the entire group. It helps the poor, sure, for a while. But it harms the wealthy. This can have a couple of long-term side-effects. I was going to go into a deep-ish philosophical diatribe about why this is bad, but chances are if you don't already know why, you'll just disagree with me and miss the point of this post.

Here's a really brief summary: extreme liberalism = socialism = something for nothing at the expense of others... whether they like it or not.

And here's the point of this post:

President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the other day. When a friend at work told me that, my first thought was: "Shut up." So I told him to shut up.

He insisted it was true. He turned to his computer and pulled up MSNBC.com and showed me. I scowled in thought... What's today? I thought. October something, so not April Fool's Day...

Still doubting I decided to check out the most official sources I could find. Ended up on nobelprize.org It was true. I was (and am) baffled. Why on Earth did the Nobel people choose to discredit this prize by giving it to somebody who did not earn it?? He hasn't done anything!

I read the official press release, I don't know if I need written permission to duplicate it here, so I'll sum up and give a link:

For efforts to strengthen international diplomacy, and his vision of a world without nuclear weapons.

Yes, friends, strangers, et al., President Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States of America was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "trying" and "imagining" good things. Not for succeeding or accomplishing. For trying and pretending.

I decided this was going to be an opportunity for Socialists everywhere to point and say, "See, it works!! We really don't have to do anything, and good things will come our way!"

Obama, of course, was very gracious in his response to learning he would be receiving the award, and I have nothing bad to say about his response. However, I did read Rush Limbaugh's response to Obama's address, and though I do think Rush is a right-wing-nut, he made what I believe to be a good point.

He pointed out that this award was almost nothing more than the Nobel committee putting pressure on Obama (Read: bribing him) to leave Iran alone, refuse a surge in Afghanistan, and otherwise weaken the United States.

Best case scenario: The Nobel Peace Prize committee has undervalued their own prize and encouraged the rest of the world to see it as nothing more than a political award given to those who they think they can manipulate into advancing their own agenda.

Worst case scenario: President Obama feels the pressure, gives into it, and moves to completely eliminate the United States' presence in the world as a super power.

Bottome line: The Peace Prize has lost all significance in this frivolous awarding to President Obama. If I were a previous laureat, I would be saddened that my award no longer meant what it used to mean... of course, I suppose this started earlier, maybe when Al Gore received it.

Links:

Nobel Prize Press Release

Fox News (transcript of Rush Limbaugh)