Obama's Nobel Peace Prize
 

Article featured in Avatar - Volume 3, Issue 5 (November 2009).


With only eight months under his belt, the announcement of President Barack Obama being named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize recipient stirred praise and controversy around the globe on October 9th, 2009. According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Obama was awarded the prize for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”. In a press conference at the White House hours after the announcement, President Obama said he was “surprised and deeply humbled” to be awarded the prize. In a response, the White House said the prize was a “call to action” for all people around the world.

The world's reaction to the news has been mainly positive. UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, said the President “embodies the new spirit of dialogue and engagement on the world’s biggest problems: climate change, nuclear disarmament, and a wide range of peace and security challenges”. Japanese Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, congratulated the president and said he has seen the world change since Obama took office last year. Despite celebration, others around the world strongly feel the award is premature for President Obama. Former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Lech Walesa, called the decision “too soon. . .[President Obama] has not yet made a real input. He is still at an early stage”. South African Archbishop and former Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu agreed, saying “[Obama] has not even finished a year in his first term of office.”

Regardless of varying opinions, there is no doubt that this has only added more pressure on the President and his administration. In a way, it is difficult to make a case for Obama as other famous world leaders such as Mohandas Gandhi, who achieved peace, freedom, and solidarity in India, never received the award. Further, Obama has yet to foster peace in the Middle East, especially in Afghanistan (he will be sending in an additional 40,000 American troops this year). However, there is no doubt that Obama has instilled a sense of great hope in the American public and around the world. His election has significantly changed a once negative view of America around the world to a positive one. If anything, the award is for encouragement, rather than merits for now.

Hopefully, this award will inspire world leaders around the world, as well as ordinary individuals like you and I. This award does place a significant amount of pressure on Obama to perform best, but it is not as if pressure is a new thing for the President.