I’m not George Bush, either. Where’s my Nobel Prize?
I voted for Obama. I hope the world is a better place when his presidency is over. But this award feels extraordinarily condescending, as though America received a collective pat on the head from some committee in Norway because we voted the right way last November.
Unless he’s far more egotistical than I take him to be, I’m sure even Mr. Obama would at least privately admit that he hasn’t done enough, yet, to deserve this award. The Nobel Peace Prize appears to have become the political equivalent of a Golden Globe Awards, at which the foreign entertainment correspondents lure our biggest stars to their televised ceremony with flattery, gift bags and alcohol, then hand out trophies to those who adhere most closely to their vaguely “America is the cause of the world’s problems” politics.
I would have cautioned the committee to not hand out the statuette until this particular movie is over, and they’ve had a chance to compare it to the other contenders in the category.
[Random songs played on iTunes while writing this post: "Crazy Love, Vol. II" from Paul Simon's "Graceland," on which he first experimented w
ith African musicians...
...and then "Guantanamera" by the Sandpipers, their version of which is a bit schlocky -- and a song I hope I never hear again played by strolling musicians in a Mexican restaurant -- but it does have a nice sentiment. See? I like The World just fine. 
That was followed, however, by Dinah Shore singing, "See the USA in your Chevrolet," a sentiment I heartily endorse -- even if GM is owned by the government now. 
]
