In true, completely not made-up news, president Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize nine months into his presidency. It wasn’t for any demonstrable achievement, like ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, brokering a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, stopping the genocide in Darfur or going back in time and killing Adolf and Eva in their bunker with his bare hands. It was, rather, a pat on the back, a “keep up the good work” from the International Community™ for
his initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism.
Not to knock any of those causes, but they’re works in progress. It will take years to see what impact they have on the world, and towards the cause of peace. And really, does O need any more embarrassing love notes from the world? “Oh my god, baby, you’re making me so wet” is typically the kind of thing you say in private or in a room full of consenting adults who have had too much to drink, not on the world stage.
The unexpected news has, however, had the transformative power of bringing together disparate factions in their utter mystification of what The Norwegian Nobel Committee was thinking. What else could put the White House, the Taliban, Michael Steele, Poland and Re:Generator on essentially the same page?
