Jack Strayer: Obama is first Nobel Peace Prize loser
Published 7:53 am Friday, December 28, 2012
Speaking From Experience
By Jack Strayer
In the fall of 2009, after serving as President of the United States for only nine months, Barack Obama received the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
President Obama, Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt are the only sitting U.S. presidents to receive this international distinction, with Jimmy Carter receiving his Nobel Peace Prize nearly 20 years after leaving office. Wilson received his in 1919 for his creation of the League of Nations. Roosevelt received his in 1906 for brokering the peace treaty between Russia and Japan. Carter received his in 2002 for a long list of post-presidential achievements.
Three years after receiving the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, even Barack Obama is still wondering why he was presented with this award.
Today is the first day back after the Christmas recess for members of Congress to prevent the nation’s economy from going over “The Cliff,” and what is the Nobel Peace Prize winner going to do to broker peace and cooperation between peoples, namely the Republicans in the House and Democrats in the Senate?
Technically, President Obama is a lame duck president. He is not running for re-election, but he still considers himself The Democrat President, when he should really be “Nobel” about the state of the Union and become The American President. Every American knows that this Congress is hopelessly without leadership on either side of the aisle in either chamber of Congress. The President needs to become a skilled bipartisan negotiator and lead the federal government to a resolution of the nation’s fiscal crisis.
He can continue to provide cover for the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Or he can — at long last — become a real Nobel Peace Prize winner and use his presidential power as an American President, representing all of us. If our economy goes over the cliff, he will be forever known as the Nobel Peace Prize Loser.
