Is Obama noble enough for Nobel?

The Nobel Peace Prize has come under a lot of fire after they announced Obama as this year’s winner. While there are people who have hailed the decision there are some who have questioned the basis on which the peace prize is given.

I do not know Alfred Nobel’s will verbatim, but I guess what he wanted was to recognize the efforts of an individual for his contributions and achievements in reduction of standing armies between two or more nations and promotion of nonviolence.

Mr. Obama has been in office for about 9 months now and his nomination for the prize came just 2 weeks after he got elected. While Obama’s nominees would have spent decades of their lives for the cause of nonviolence, Obama has just about made his intentions clear about what he wants to do. He has been seen as a symbol of change from the notoriety associated with Bush’s regime. With his speech in the Middle-East, he intended to reposition the U.S as a nation which believed in collaboration and has urged against orchestration of all Muslim’s as terrorists. All these are intends and not actions. The actions and outcomes of Obama’s administration are largely ‘WIP’. The speeches cannot be counted as achievement and if that may be the case then most of our politician’s would be Nobel Laureates. As someone had rightly mentioned, this is like giving the Best Picture Award for a film which is still in the making. The award stands in stark irony of Gandhi being denied the award in spite of being nominated 5 times. This award risks the credibility of the Nobel Peace Price and its judges.

While Obama has himself accepted that he didn’t deserve the award, he was stopped short of refusing to take the award. He should have appealed to be re nominated after he’d got the chance to convert his intentions to action. Though this would have invoked the ire of the Nobel jury, this act would have been globally appreciated and elevated his standing in the minds of people world over.

I feel that this award was more of a political move than a prize recognizing achievements. Obama’s administration will have to think real hard about they would want to deal with other nations. Now the Obama’s intend of increasing the number of troops will fall under the microscope. Each fallen U.S soldier will be like nuclear fuel for the critics and the media. Issues in Iraq, Iran and North Korea cannot be swept under the carpet. Though Obama said that he intends to close Guantanamo Bay, the words are yet to be realized into actions.

This award is a political move well thought off by 5 Norwegian judges who did their part to ensure that U.S’s actions from now on should be towards promoting peace and not indulge in mindless skirmishes to fulfill their selfish needs. Hence, though this award does no justice to the achievements, it will definitely help in instilling peace in the coming years of Obama’s regime.