Subject: [big campaign] New Huff Post from Creamer -- Obama's Nobel Peace Prize
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:29:36 EDT
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

Obama’s Nobel Prize Is Really a Tribute to American  Voters 

President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize is more than anything else a tribute  
to America’s voters.  In making the award, the Nobel Committee  said, “The 
question we have to ask is, who has done the most in the previous  year to 
enhance peace in the world, and who has done more than Barack  Obama?” 
Of course the most important thing Obama did to enhance peace in the  
world, was to win the election – and once elected, to chart a course for  
American foreign policy that is fundamentally different, in both substance and  
tone, from that of the Bush-Cheney years.   
Obama greeted the news of the award by saying it was a “call to action,”  
and there is no doubt that it creates an even higher expectation for him to 
live  up to in the years ahead.  But more  than anything else, this award 
celebrates the fact that American voters chose a  President committed to 
progressive values – committed to strengthening  international diplomacy and 
cooperation between peoples instead of pre-emptive  war and the Neo-Con theories 
of unilateral action.  
In its statement, the Committee said he had “created a new climate in  
international politics…. 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.”  It continued, “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.”   That is,  in 
other words, a true commitment to democracy.  
To fully appreciate the importance of Obama’s election to the prospects  of 
peace in the world, return with me to the thrilling days of yesteryear when 
 Bush and Cheney still stalked the political earth. Think of the damage 
that they  did in eight short years – to world peace, and to the respect and 
power of the  United  States.  
* A disastrous pre-emptive war in Iraq that destroyed America’s reputation, 
drained our treasure, cost  the lives and limbs of tens of thousands of 
young Americans, resulted in the  deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi’s, 
displaced millions more, and  strengthened Iran.  
* Neglect for the economic, political and military needs of the struggle  
in Afghanistan – leaving us with no  truly good options there eight years 
after 9/11.  
* Demonization of the United Nations that went so far that they appointed  
a U.N. Ambassador more interested in destroying the institution than using 
it  for diplomacy. 
* Virtual neglect of the festering problem of peace between  Israel and the 
 Palestinians. 
* Abandoning the Clinton policy of  engagement with North  Korea that had 
prevented that country’s  development of nuclear weapons. That worked so well 
that North Korea got  those weapons on the Bush-Cheney watch. 
* Abandoning the Geneva Conventions, due process of law and the shared  
values of the civilized world, and instead embracing torture, rendition, the  
debasement of prisoners at Abu Graib, and detention without  trial. 
* For all of their tough talk about strengthening our military, they  
stretched it to the breaking point, so it became more difficult for  America to 
take military action if it  really were needed to maintain world peace.  
* And for those who love  America, one of their worst sins was  that Bush 
and Cheney turned our country into one that polls showed – rightly or  
wrongly – many people in the world believed was the “greatest threat to world  
peace.”  Astounding. 
The Nobel Committee gave the prize to Barack Obama because he gave the  
world hope that its most powerful, wealthy nation would once again provide  
humankind with inspiration and leadership that can be trusted and admired.  
Since his election, President Obama has launched a worldwide campaign to  
eliminate all nuclear weapons – recognizing that controlling the 
proliferation  of nuclear weapons is a practical impossibility unless we work to 
eliminate them  from the globe.  He has rededicated  America to cope with the 
massive  threat of climate change.  He has  reset our relationship with the 
Muslim world.  He has rededicated America to the  world’s international 
institutions. And, he has begun to use all of the  tools available to our country – 
including diplomacy – to create a more just and  peaceful planet. 
All of this is just the beginning of a long journey.  But at least we have 
once again begun  that journey down the right road. In and of itself that 
has made  America safer, restored our respect  in the world, and has begun to 
build a foundation for peace in the world over  the long term.  
Americans may not fully appreciate how completely they changed our  
relations to the rest of the world when they voted to elect Barack Obama last  
November.  The rest of the world  does.  We should consider Barack  Obama’s 
Nobel peace prize as a giant gesture of gratitude.  
Robert Creamer is a long time political  organizer and strategist, and 
author of the recent book:  Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can  Win, 
available on _Amazon.com._ 
(http://www.amazon.com/Listen-Your-Mother-Straight-Progressives/dp/0979585295/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213241439&sr=8-1)

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