What Does Obama’s Prize Mean?

The Nobel Peace Prize goes to President Barack Obama.
by Charlie Leck

The announcement came as a stunning surprise and the questions were immediately raised by one and all. What does it mean? Why? Doesn’t it seem premature?

I found that I needed to carefully read the explanation from the Nobel Committee in order to understand what is going on here. You can go to this You Tube site to hear the Committee announcement. I’ll include the full text announcement below.

“He has created a new international climate. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play.”

“…for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperate between peoples.”

“Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts.”“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future.”

And, in that final quotation you find the essence of the rationale behind the award. Even more so than he has in the United States, Barack Obama has captured the imagination of people all around the globe and given them hope for a new age of peace and understanding between peoples. Perhaps it came even more from his campaign for office than it has come from his actions after taking office.

What will be henceforth so very interesting is to see how the award may now actually affect and influence the actions of the President in matters of international diplomacy and our nation's military reactions to crisis.

Stay tuned!

Announcement

The Norwegian Nobel Committee

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in he concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

Oslo, October 9, 2009