Twice in my lifetime

[trystinn]

It's been announced - Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize!

For those curious, the other U.S. Presidents to win were Theodore Roosevelt (1906) and Woodrow Wilson (1919) and Jimmy Carter (2002). And, of course, perhaps America's most treasured award winner - Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964.

Today, I think of my paternal great-grandfather bringing his wife and three young children here from Northern Ireland fleeing poverty and starvation. And I think of my maternal great-grandfather bringing his family here from Germany, just in time to escape the Holocaust.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I am greatly humbled.

Comments

[evaelisabeth.livejournal.com]

America can be justifiably proud.

[keastree.livejournal.com]

I think that the Nobel Peace Prize is now of questionable value. Obama has actually done nothing in terms of promoting or cementing long-term peace anywhere on the planet, and the choice looks like another case where the Nobel Committee rushed a completely political choice.

What did he do in the 10 days after he took office that made him eligible over others on this planet who have been busting their butts for years to pour oil on troubled waters?

[keastree.livejournal.com]

Teddy Roosevelt was a man of action who brought peace through conflict and decisive and forthright action(and whose diplomatic corps never got the credit it deserved).

Wilson? I am not sure that his choice was anything other than an attaboy for the League of Nations(which failed anyway). I always wondered why Truman didn't get it(as well as Marshal), since he oversaw the rebuilding of Europe after the war, and the fact that in doing so it probably did more to promote peace and prosperity than just about anything else.

Carter definitely. A good Christian man who knows how to apply those principles personally, politically, and internationally. Very much deserved for his work as a statesman, even if he was a lousy president.

Nixon, though toxic in the extreme, was a statesman equal to Carter in many ways.

King: He understood American-style non-violence and taught us the peaceful power of the boycott.

[evaelisabeth.livejournal.com]

It's actually a misconception that the committee awards the peace price necessarily for already accomplished work but rather to encourage and strengthen the recipient during the difficult work they are doing. Check this out http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8298580.stm .

[keastree.livejournal.com]

I believe that the Nobel Committee has lost its way on this one and that the credibility of the prize in the future is now even more in question.

[frauholla.livejournal.com]

I am planning on ending world hunger by organic heirloom gardening. The Nobel Committee needs to encourage and strengthen me for my difficult work.

This choice was political. He was chosen because he was not Bush.

[evaelisabeth.livejournal.com]

All Peace Prize choices are political and I do agree there is a definite element of "Oh my Gods were so happy you are sane and not crazy like that other guy". I'm still cheered by the fact that America is starting to behave like a responsible adult in the international arena and that's up to Obama to a great degree. As always YMMV.

[frauholla.livejournal.com]

I have to disagree about the responsible adult commment, but then YMMV. ;)

Even New York Times writers think this is a travesty.

[paigemom.livejournal.com]

Wow, indeed! Was it for the I'm Sorry America Sucks Tour, or was it for the utterly tacky gifts he gave the Prime Minister of England -- CDs that don't work in England, and some plastic dolls from the White House gift shop?

What a travesty.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

While I'm a huge Obama fan, I'm actually kind of embarrassed about this. He just hasn't DONE that much to have earned this yet. Good intentions to me don't justify this level of recognition.

[dana3.livejournal.com]

::grin:: That makes it three times in mine ...

I'm just glad at the humility he expressed in his acceptance speech -- that AND the donation of the money prize to charity. Think that's the right spirit for such a premature expression -- as he himself expressed, so I'm not trashing the man. It might be premature, but hey -- at least he's smart and sane. :D

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

I wrote this post at about 3am, but I expected a reasonable and humble response from Obama today and I got it.