Nobel's Noble Hope Is You
The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama stunned America. And the President most of all. Citing "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," in particular, nuclear disarmament, Europe was, of course, considerably less surprised by the choice than we. Exceptionally pleased with a president who sought to restore America’s moral standing in the world, they honored him for being who he was and who he was not – George W. Bush.
Having selected him last February, his presidency was not, however, the essential selection criterion. His galvanizing campaign was. The manner in which he gave hope to the world and changed the international political landscape - through the philosophical underpinnings of the campaign, his capacity for truth-telling – these were factors influential to the Nobel Committee.
“Faith, we are told in Hebrews 11:1, is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Faith and hope, this Bible verse intones, are intangible things. Beyond its illusive and ethereal nature, hope, candidate Obama, opined, is even audacious. It is more than risky and outlandishly daring to hold himself, his country and the world not just to high expectations, but to a reasonable ones in an era where common sense in increasingly uncommon.
And so, for challenging the us to be our best selves, to seek consensus and eschew discord, for promising to work toward global cooperation in all arenas and to work with American enemies, for daring through an accident of birth to look like the world’s majority, Barack Obama will receive the Nobel Peace Prize, a singular honor.
And one that he cannot enjoy. It’s a controversial honor at home and abroad. Dan Balz of the Washington Post wrote that many were disconcerted that the honor was presented to “a president still in his first year in office with no major accomplishments internationally”. France’s Liberation noted that the prize was deserved “because he’s Obama, with his life symbolically on three continents (and) because his success has become synonymous with dignity and hope.” The New York Times called it a “mixed blessing”, while the China News (an unofficial missive) referred to the win as “an award of encouragement.” Arab newspapers reported their concerns that inspirational the Nobel prizewinner, already engaged in two wars, may one day bomb Iran.
Given this Obama’s, not surprisingly, was a most somber press conference. While any such honor must be met with humility, there was no hint of joy that morning, no trademark bounce in his step, no sly smile. Certainly, the president felt the need to stave off the criticisms of the far right by stating that he may have accomplished less than other recipients. These include Mother Theresa, the 14th Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King, Presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter and Vice President Al Gore. He felt it important to state to all listeners that was a community award, requiring collective effort. "I will accept this award as a call to action," Obama said.
Throughout his statement, the psychologist in me saw a different president than has typically presented himself to the nation and world. No matter what the circumstance, President Obama has been a smiling, jovial man. On Friday, October 9, 2009, the world was too much with him. We saw a sad, even depressed, man. And he said something, rather quickly, that slipped by. The president indicated that his daughters had awakened him (though Robert Gibbs had also called). He usually awakens for workouts at 5:30 a.m. I fear that Congressional rancor and community angers, perhaps even the day-to-day labors of the job may be wearing him down; they have certainly lined his face and turned his hair gray. Presidents age at two to three times the rate of the rest of us. Nine months in and it shows. He’s tired. Because he’s not done nothing. The man has been busy with two wars, bank bailouts, car company assists, the closing of Guantanamo, health care, global warming treaties, and meeting the needs of every imaginable domestic and international concerns and constituencies on a daily basis while fielding personal death threats. That's enough to make you sleep through the trainer.
Certainly there are many who believe that peace-making leadership is about more than inspiration and that making nice will not end wars, stop Iran from building nuclear weapons, keep the Taliban from deadly assembly across the Afghan-Pakistan border, truly green the environment, get health care for all by November, shut up Rush Limbaugh, or make Michael Steele understand that he would not have his job if the president had not been elected.
Obama could be a bit less deliberative and use the bully pulpit more often and more effectively. We know he gets angry (recall his face when Joe Wilson yelled, "You lie!?). It's possible to work toward yes and, if yes is not forthcoming, to make a deliberative (rather than cooperative) decision. It is possible to "prescribe" an outcome. For example, it is highly likely that the messy summer could have been less so had President Obama said to Congress that he wanted them to first have a conversation about healthcare as a structure for helping people, then challenged them to work collaboratively on a bill that had the following components - a public option, a balanced budget, and provisions that better regulated insurance companies. That way, the work might have been done earlier and, if it had to go to the summer, many questions would have been answered in advance of the town halls. But that is apparently not his style. He appears to be governing like you teach a graduate seminar - assuming the students have the goal of figuring out the problem for a beloved teacher or a grade. Not so.
But this is what Obama has absolutely right. He told us that hope was an outrageous thing. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee believed him. We should act like we do too. In accepting the award, President Obama has broken the mold again by asking us all – the world – to brighten the corner where we are. So let's quit waiting on him for inspiration. Get cracking on your own steam. The man is tired.