Friday, October 16, 2009
The Record Volume 40, Issue 6
The Official Student Publication of the Saint Louis Priory High School since 1960
Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Premature? Patrick Mulvihill, ’10 Editor in Chief
At 6:00 A.M. on October 9th, President Obama was informed that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize. Obama was surprised. He was not alone. Obama was selected as the winner of arguably the most prestigious award in the entire world from a pool of 172 people from 33 nations. The reason? His “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Seems fine and upstanding, right? What you may not know is that Obama was nominated for this award 11 days into office. Less than two weeks. Many of the readers may know that I am by no means Obama’s biggest fan. While he is our President and I respect that, I am far from the Obama bandwagon that has swept the nation. However, I have nothing negative to say about him right now. While I may disagree with his politics and morals at times, Obama is by no means the brunt of my anguish. The Nobel Committee are entirely to blame for this occurrence. Perhaps blame is a strong word. No one was hurt through this. I think guilt is a better word to use. The Nobel Committee should feel guilty for what they have done to the Nobel Peace Prize. They have, in one dreadful decision for their esteemed award, done away with all the prestige and honor that comes with the award. Not that Obama does not care about global peace, in fact we all know he does care. The problem here is that he has yet to actually DO anything to
Obama speaking to the UN. President Obama was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 11 days into his term.
advance peace. He can preach about peace all he wants, but being in one of the most powerful positions in the world, it takes more than simple words. It takes dramatic actions towards peace and justice, actions we really have yet to see. Within the United States itself, people have been very vocal with their frustration with Obama’s award. Obviously members of the GOP were concerned, but most of the faces of conservatism were surprisingly quiet. The largest critics were Obama supporters. One of these supporters, a writer for the Huffington Post named
Michael Russnow, inquired, "Whatever Happened to Awarding for Deeds Actually Done?" He contrasts this "extremely premature" prize to "giving an Oscar to a young director for films we hope that he or she will produce.” John Miller of the National Review also commented, “Obama isn’t the first American president to win the Nobel Peace Prize, but he’s the first to win it without having accomplished anything… Obama’s award is simply the projection of wishful thinking.” Lastly, even the Taliban, as in the terrorist organization within Afghanistan and throughout the M i d d l e (continued on back page)