Tiffany Neuverth
Professor Tom Lovin
English 101 - 027
Essay # 3
October 25th, 2009
President Barack Obama’s Nobel Prize
Throughout my life, presidents, campaigns, inaugurations, elections, and anything political-related has been a bore for me to listen to. Honestly, when it comes time for a new president in the United States, I could care less. However, this last time around the campaigns did somewhat catch my attention. I think the biggest reason Obama’s campaign peeked interest in me was because he greatly focused on “change”. This talk of change offered a new and exciting idea to America and in the end, attracted a good amount of people. It was said in an article done by the Nobel Foundation that: “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 the 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.” On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama was elected to be the next President of the United States of America. He is currently the forty-fourth president in America. President Obama was in office for about a month before he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. However, why he received prize quickly became a very controversial topic in America. The Belleville News-Democrat recently said it in an article this way: “We are giving President Obama an award for having good intentions when the award is for accomplishments. There are no accomplishments.” It seems that the main reason people had a problem with Obama getting this was because the talk of “change” that he ran hard for in his campaign never seemed to appear or take effect in the United States. In my opinion, even though it is a controversial topic to discuss, I do not think we have really seen any results of this change he talked about.
The Nobel Peace Prize, also called, “the world’s most prestigious prize”, has been awarded annually since December 10, 1901, by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm and Oslo. It is given for any outstanding contributions in the areas of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace that fall into the guidelines of Alfred Nobel’s will. According to Nobel’s will, it is to be awarded to whomever that “has done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”. This award also always includes a medal, personal diploma, and a pretty hefty amount of money.
According to the Nobel Foundation President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 2009 for: “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples" Personally, I think the reason they awarded Obama this was because the Nobel Foundation liked the talk of his change. He was offering several ideas that really appealed to them. It seems to me that President Obama was thinking along the lines of becoming less of a bully and trying to consider the opinions, cares, and needs of the other countries in the world. Overall his ideas sound to me like the need to consult more with allies instead of being a country that acts on its own. In my opinion, because of Obama’s willingness to talk and communicate with other countries, he most definitely has the potential to do something great. However, I think that their award was a bit pre-mature. He is still new at being in office and has not yet pursued any of the changes he previously mentioned. The Nobel Peace Prizes is supposed to be given to people because of results they had from ideas, not just the ideas and their intentions. Thus far, we have yet to see much more than intentions from Obama.
In 2000, Kim Dae-Jung was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for: “his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular.” Also in 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Mohamed ElBaradei were awarded for: “For their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way.” There are many examples and people who have been awarded over the past hundred or so years. Some of them are for better reasons or attempts than others but overall you can see that there is a pretty common idea of awarding for results, not intentions. Once again, I think you can see why I see it as a pre-mature move for the Nobel Foundation.
All together we can see that while Obama’s talk of change is interesting and ear-catching, we really need to be looking at his actions. I think that overall Obama’s ideas and intentions are encouraging but time will only tell if they are good and will result well. Also, while everyone may not agree that Obama is good or bad for office, I think we all can agree that he does need to be doing more and getting results, whether good or bad. President Barack Obama can say all he wants but it will be what he does to benefit in and for this world that I will base my opinion on. Afterall, actions do speak louder than words. There have been many people that have been awarded the Nobel for the great things they have done. We should continue to keep these same pattern of results, in my opinion. Overall, I think that for President Barack Obama has the potential there to make something out of his intentions. Whether or not he does is another story though. There are many possible ways for him to go on this. Until then however, I do not feel that he necessarily should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize here and now. It was too early. The future however, may be bright.
Work Cited:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2009/press.html
http://nobelpeaceprize.org/en_GB/alfred-nobel/testament/
Belleville News-Democrat
http://nobelpeaceprize.org/en_GB/about_peaceprize/
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