I very rarely read the Corner, as I am fond of refraining from doing spit takes. But I had a reaction to some news this morning that I imagine was not dissimilar to many Cornerites.
From day one, I have been one of the worst of the mesmerized Obamatons. Unlike many Democrats, I am very much in favor of his willingness to compromise, and his pragmatism before idealism, and his measured pace for changing precedent. I believe time will prove that he will do the right thing on important issues, such as DADT, that he has not already done.
But, um, Nobel committee? Barack Obama really hasn't done anything yet. He has brought peace to nowhere. He means well, but so do lots and lots of people. Could we please wait and see how he does and what he does before we go awarding him like this?
One gets the sense that the Nobel committee has been choosing candidates, where possible, merely to stick it to George W. Bush. I'd like to stick it to George W. Bush, too. But do you really want to spend millions of dollars in prize money and an incalculable amount of prestige to insult him over and over again?
Update: And of course, by 9 am, I find that everyone has just said all this, and not just Cornerites.
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9 hours ago
Are you serious? Look at Pres. Obama's many concrete accomplishments:
ReplyDeleteClosing GITMO
Ending rendition
US completely out of Iraq
The Afghans are strong enough to handle the Taliban now
The Israelis and Palestinian Arabs are finally making signifigant concessions for peace
The Dalai Lama has been invited to meet with Chinese officials
Asia is free of the fear of NoKo nukes
Iran has discarded its uranium processing facilities and opened to IAEA inspectors
But most importantly, the world in unified as never before in its desire to say "jumped the shark" in Norwegian!
i take the nobel peace prize about as seriously as i take the oscars.
ReplyDelete-joe
Wow. I mean. Wow.
ReplyDeleteLook, I like the guy. I'm losing patience with him on the DADT front, but I like him. I think he's doing a good job in a tough time.
But, um. Yikes. No. Too soon. I will quote Rod Dreher:
"The Nobel committee has awarded Obama its Peace prize for the grand achievement of not being George W. Bush. I don't see any other way to explain this decision. Again, it doesn't reflect poorly on Obama, but rather on the Nobel committee, which looks petty and political."
I don't think he should turn it down. That would look singularly ungracious. And I think the right-wing nastiness is silly and counter-productive, as usual. But I think he's going to have to finesse that acceptance speech really, really well.
DADT is much less important than DOMA. DADT has no real teeth and only allows gays to serve openly, but it is another step away from our gay bondage, (no pun intended). The real meat & potatoes for us is the repeal of DOMA wherein we can inherit without huge taxes, annuity protection without extra fees, Social Security for our spouse, Income tax filings, power of attorney, visitation rights, (needed for older gays)and about 1100 other state and federal laws. We can overcome some of these laws by expending large sums of money throughout our lives which is just not fair nor American. Yes I continue to believe in the man, but even my patience is running thin. DODT can be overturned with a stroke of his pen. They say he has a full plate, but as John Daily says, "Mr President, get a larger plate".
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