The Gothic Times

Issue date: 11/25/09 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Stephen Crowley/The New York Times/Redux Obama in White House Rose Garden after Nobel Peace Prize Announcement

Last year, just a month before the presidential election, scores of New Jersey City University students came out to the "Great Debate" to take a survey on which presidential nominees they would vote for. Obama won with 89.6 percent of the vote. La-di-dah.

Many students on campus are effusive when describing President Barack Obama. These Obamanauts loyally stick to their man, the vessel of "Hope" and "Change."

I guess they weren't surprised when, on October 9, just a year after NJCU's Prez popularity contest, the Nobel Committee announced President Obama as this year's recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Aside from the ever-loyal Obamanauts at NJCU and beyond, there was skepticism around the world.

Nicholas D. Kristof, a liberal New York Times columnist and supporter of Obama, wrote that he was "nonplussed" by the "premature" award from the Nobel Committee.

"What has he done?" Kristof asked.

In its announcement for the Peace Prize, the Nobel Committee cited the Obama administration's nuclear disarmament plan. However, a nuclear deal with Russia is in its first act and the Iran's government still clings to its nuclear program.

Additionally, the Nobel Committee cited a "new climate" of "multilateral diplomacy" that was ushered in with the Obama presidency.

It's not ridiculous to suspect that one of the reasons the Nobel Committee is giving Obama the prize is because he's not George W. Bush. The former president has set a pretty low bar.

They also cited Obama's championing of democracy and human rights.

In a year when the streets of Tehran were filled with those who long for democracy and human rights, when Morgan Tsvangirai is trying to save Zimbabwe from the depths of a despot's depravity, when civil rights lawyers are arrested en masse in China, I can think of dozens of people who have worked and suffered in the trenches on behalf of democracy and human rights.

The Nobel Committee had the chance to give a global platform to obscure yet passionate activists, but they squandered that opportunity. Instead, they went for celebrity.

And let's be honest, the Nobel Committee is an Ivory Tower cabal. It's consists of five people who are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament. Who knew that Norway would be relevant to Obama's presidency?

Continued...

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