Obama Nobel Prize injustice

THERE is no denying that America’s 44th and first black (and partially white) President, Barack Obama, is an intelligent and a charismatic leader in a league of his own.

He ran one of the most shrewd and innovative presidential campaigns as he marched to the presidency of the world’s superpower. Try as they did, his opponents in the form of Hillary Clinton and John McCain could not stem the Obama tide. Not even former US President Bill Clinton could stop Obama from occupying the White House.

Such was the man’s brilliant strategy that there was no stopping him from making history by breaking the white man’s stranglehold on the White House. Obama was the ray of light after the catastrophic rule of one not- so-sharp, lying, confrontational and bullying George W Bush.

Obama’s oratory skills are legendary. The man has the ability to move moun tains with his words. Obama, just like Martin Luther King Jnr, can have people in tears with his speeches, which he delivers with phenomenal and unparalleled eloquence.

It is no exaggeration to say that Obama ranks up there with the best orators the world has ever heard. The man is simply a genius when it comes to public speaking. It is a marvel to witness Obama deliver one of his masterpiece speeches!

Since assuming office Obama has been a breath of fresh air in terms of trying to engage with countries which were previously continuously at war with the US. This includes reaching out to Iran, Turkey and the Muslim world in general. As Menachem Z Rosensaft (founding chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors) points out, Obama has charted a new direction in trying to end the never-ending Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Really now? Obama, as an ally of Israel, would obviously seek a solution that will favour Israel and disadvantage Palestine.

Rosensaft further preaches the Obama gospel thus: “The President has travelled thousands of miles to tell men, women and children across the globe, national leaders and average citizens alike that after eight years of xenophobia and jingoism the US has returned to its historical role as a unifying catalyst of humankind”. Wow, the US is a “unifying catalyst of humankind”! More like a dividing catalyst of humankind. In most cases, if not all, its selfish interests (business or whatever) drive the US when it sticks its nose in other countries’ affairs.

So it is really puzzling and disturbing to award the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to Obama on the grounds of his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen inter national diplomacy and co-operation between peoples”. What a load of mumbo jumbo!

What Obama is doing is repositioning the US after the damage done to the country’s image by Bush. The Nobel Prize committee failed to see Obama’s intentions for what they really are. Obama’s intentions may be noble, but at this stage they do not deserve a Nobel Peace Prize, period. The Nobel Prize committee is nothing more than the PR machine for the US. The decision is a farce.

Had this decision been taken here in South Africa, surely some lobby group or political entity would have sought a judicial review. It is an insult to laureates such as former President Nelson Man dela. At least Obama has the company of other undeserving laureates like former President FW de Klerk.

Cedric Mboyisa is political editor of The Citizen.