Obama Wins Nobel; Lebron Named Best Player Ever
While he’s not exactly the messiah, Barack Obama has done a lot of good things as a candidate and president. People seem to be making the case that he has not done much in his first nine months in office, but people also forget that January was one of the worst job loss months in US history. The American economy appears to have stabilized, if it isn’t exactly adding huge numbers of jobs yet. This seems like a good start considering where it looked like we were headed when he took office.
Similarly, a cap and trade bill for curbing climate change–an idea that was always presented as being a Republican strategy for successful economic policy when I studied it in high school–seems likely to get signed sometime soon. Meanwhile, the US is slowly pulling out of Iraq. Healthcare, too seems like it will eventually make it through, if perhaps not as the sweeping reform many would like. All of this is good, if slow, movement in the right direction. In short, I believe that history–and I mean near history–will prove President Obama to be prudent, if somewhat cautious; effective, if not always as visionary as one might hope. He is off to a solid start.
But really, the Nobel Peace Prize? What was that for again? His speech in Cairo? It was an important speech that altered the trajectory of US-Middle East relations. But the Nobel Peace Prize? He has been taking the steps in the correct direction, but he does not have an achievement that reaches the level to warrant this.
Certainly he has not achieved what Al Gore did. Who continues to doubt global warming? George Will and Pat Buchanan, as far as I know. Al Gore shifted the debate entirely and made it possible for sweeping change to take place. One could argue that much of the progress that China is making to reverse its previously disastrous policies have stemmed from Al Gore making clear that countries cannot avoid responsibility by casting blame on others. Even if he simply helped push the country, and the US as well, in the right direction, that is a significant achievement.
Let’s look at another promising, but still young career to get a better understanding of why this award is so odd.
There is a good chance that Lebron James will prove to be the best basketball player in the history of the game. But there is a reason he is not yet in the Hall of Fame. For all of his accomplishments to this point in his career, he has not yet proven to be an all-time great. He got close to winning a championship, but didn’t. His been dealt a bad hand in terms of teammates, but has done well with what he has. At times–and even over the course of the last full season–he he demonstrated himself to be an unstoppable force. But as of yet, he has no championships. He has not yet proven himself to be a tremendous force over long periods of time. He’s done pretty well…so far.
Obama’s presidential record perhaps looks like Lebron’s NBA career: both have proven themselves to be exceptionally capable, and with time, they might leave tremendous legacies. But there is much work left to do. Perhaps it was slightly premature to make the case that President Obama has been a driving player for world peace in just nine months.
Bill responds:
Posted: October 10th, 2009 at 11:31 pm →
we must congratulate China on Obama’s prize, instead of some Chinese dissident getting it and hurting the feeling of the Chinese people. And, of course, China should protest to the US and UK for granting citizenships to Charles Kao, or else he would be a Chinese citizen.
Liver Cleanse responds:
Posted: November 3rd, 2009 at 1:03 pm →
Perhaps Mr. Obama has not done enough to warrant the peace prize, but Yassar Arafat won it for shaking a man’s hand.