Published: October 19, 2009 10:50 am      

Nobel intentions

The reaction to President Barack Obama's selection as the 2009 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize was predictable. Conservative Republicans declared utter contempt, while Democratic liberal counterparts hailed the decision as a fitting tribute to a new order.

Mostly cited was the Euro-intelligentsia’s overly exuberant love of all things Barack Obama. Let’s give him the Peace Prize, they seem to be saying, because he has such great potential and because he’s not George W. Bush.

Many praised it as the recognition of America's return to the stage of multinational leadership.

But universally across the swinging pendulum of ideology and conventional wisdom there was one common reaction over the choice by the Swedish Academy that administers the awards named in memory of the man who invented dynamite.

Complete surprise.

Even Obama voiced bewilderment over his elevation to the heights of Mother Teresa, Henry Kissinger, Theodore Roosevelt and Martin Luther King - after only nine months in the White House and less than one term in the U.S. Senate.

Was it deserved at this stage of the new president's career?

Of course not.

Could the decision be justified by a lengthy record of achievement in seeking peace? At a time when he is managing two wars and in angst over whether to send more troops to Afghanistan?

The same answer applies.

So in reality, President Obama was handed the Nobel Peace Prize for achievements not yet registered - awarded for just heading in the right direction.

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton has said the president should refuse the prize politely and ask the Nobel committee to reconsider him at the end of a full term. Obama said he would accept it; leaving Le Duc Tho the North Vietnamese negotiator in peace talks the only person who has ever rejected it.

To his credit, President Obama said he didn’t deserve the recognition and that he would be donating the $1.4 million cash award to charity - But couldn’t resist the opportunity for political sermonizing: “I do not view it as recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.”

Nobel laureate Lech Walesa, who received the prize in 1983 for putting his life in danger fighting to end Poland’s communist dictatorship stated, “So soon? Too early. He has no contributions so far. He is only beginning to act.”

So with the establishment of a new precedent - good intentions - as criteria in administering the world's most prestigious awards, I would like to submit my name to the Norwegian committee for consideration.

I’ve been paving the road for 46 years.

Armand Nardi is publisher of the Gainesville Daily Register. He can be contacted at: anardi@ntin.net.