[Rue 89, France]
Sapo, Portugal
President Obama's Nobel: Can He Fulfill the World's Expectations?
"He
will have to be at his best and use his immense power to help improve the
world. That is what the Americans who elected him expect - and that is what the
world, which, thanks to him, again believes in the transformative power of
America, expects.
EDITORIAL
Translated By Brandi
Miller
October 9, 2009
Portugal - Sapo - Original Article
(Portuguese)
There are four moments when a
president of the United States can win a Nobel Peace Prize: Before being, in
the middle being, at the end of being and after being in office. The latter is
the time that gives the Nobel Committee absolute security - which is what
happened in the case of Jimmy Carter, who was a bad president but an excellent former
head of state, doing much for peace and human rights when he no longer held the
reigns of the most powerful country in the world. The penultimate happened in
the case of Woodrow Wilson, but the Treaty of Versailles was merely a misapplication
of his idealism. In the case of Theodore Roosevelt, he won during his term,
after being recognized for brokering a peace between the Russians and Japanese,
which didn't prevent him from using his "big stick" on Central
America and the Caribbean as often as necessary. Now thanks to Barack Obama, the
first possibility is being opened up.
U.S. presidents
who have won the Nobel Peace Prize while in
office, left to
right: Theodore
Roosevelt; Woodrow Wilson and
Barack Obama.
Whether Obama deserves the
Nobel is debatable. For what he promises, for the hope he awakens around the
world, definitely yes. For what he's already done, however, it seems premature.
He is a citizen of the world, the son of an African and an American, lived in a
Muslim country and is leading a nation of immigrants, which, all things
considered, is significant. And his discourse is impeccably ethical - a message
of dialogue which, he insists, will bring results.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
It is this that the Nobel
Committee wanted to highlight: the belief in Obama’s mission. It is an award
that, rather than recognizing, challenges and places an enormous responsibility
on the shoulders of the American leader. He will have to be at his best and use
his immense power to help improve the world. That is what the Americans who
elected him expect - and that is what the world, which, thanks to him, again
believes in the transformative power of America, expects.
SEE ALSO ON THIS:
Rue 89, France:
Nobel 2009: Obama a (Premature) Icon of Peace
Zaman, Turkey:
Turks Agree: Obama's Nobel Reflects Hope, Not Action
Der Spiegel, Germany:
For Barack Obama, Nobel Prize
More of a Burden than an Honor
The Times, U.K.:
'Absurd Decision'
on Obama Makes Mockery
of Nobel Peace Prize
The Times, U.K.:
'Pointless' Nobel Reveals How Obama is Lost in His own Mystique
India Today, India:
[Indian] People's Verdict:
Obama Not 'Nobel' Enough
NTV Kenya Video:
'Yes He Can and Yes
He Did' Win the Nobel Prize
Russia Today Video:
Nobel Peace Prize
for Obama a 'Big Mistake'
France 24 Video:
Does Barack Obama
Deserve Nobel Peace Prize?
BBC News Audio:
IAEA Chief
ElBaradei Says 'No One
More Worthy' than Obama
BBC News Video:
After Mandela and
Tutu, South Africans Applaud
Obama Nobel Victory
BBC News Video:
Israeli President
Peres Praises Nobel Prize for Obama
CLICK HERE FOR PORTUGUESE VERSION
[Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US October 10, 12:40am]
