Obama’s Peace Prize

President Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to an almost universal “Why?”

If Bill Clinton or Hugh Hefner had won the Piece Prize, no one would be surprised. Their qualifications in that arena are legendary.

But Obama, nominated for the Nobel after less than a month in office, actually winning it? He deserves a place in history as the first non-white president and accolades for his charisma and speaking ability but a Nobel Peace Prize – get serious. Acceptance of the prize puts him at high political risk especially if Afghanistan goes south or another 9-11 occurs on U.S. soil. His inability to fulfill his campaign promises even with huge Democrat majorities in Congress, putting the prestige of the Presidency unwisely on the line in the Harvard professor/Cambridge cops dustup and by flying to Europe in an attempt to sell the Olympic’s 2016 site committee on Chicago, his overexposure in the media and now a farcical Nobel are beginning to make his tenure look like the Seinfeld show or a famous Shakespeare play – all about nothing.

President Clinton, shocked by the historic Republican takeover of the House in 1994, moderated his policies and in cooperation with the new Republican Congress accomplished welfare reform and a balanced budget. One wonders if a similar political upheaval in the 2010 midterm elections would have the same effect on President Obama. That would be worth a prize.