Obama's Economy

Obama’s winning of the Nobel and the road ahead

The whole world is taken aback: Obama won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize! Barely 15 days into his office, his name was filed for nomination and here he is, merely completing nine months as a president and a Nobel laureate! It would have been a true victory for him if he would have rejected it saying he hasn’t done anything deserving him one of the most coveted awards. The heavens wouldn’t have fallen, the world wouldn’t have stopped and his stature wouldn’t have lowered had he would have rejected the award. It would have been a brave act of him but he didn’t. There were many contenders for the awards: doctors & surgeons, people working for charity, people from the Red Cross and more. But the Nobel committee decided the winner to be the most powerful man on the planet. Now he joins the list of greats like Mother Teresa who devoted her entire life serving the poor, the Dalai Lama who has committed his life to spread the message of peace and many more thus making them an apt choice for a peace prize. Such is the power of Gandhi’s simplicity and non-violence ideologies that it is in his name the International Day for Peace is celebrated.

Now that Mr. Obama has accepted the award, he should dedicate it to those who are the real peace keepers of the world: thousands of army men guarding the territories, to the people serving the poor and to those who are spreading the message of love and peace. He should dedicate this prize to those who have lost their lives in standing for peace, justice and equality. As Indians, we are remembered of an incident when Mother Teresa denied to have the royal dinner when she went to collect her prize reasoning that the money could instead be spent serving the unfortunate. The Nobel peace prize brings along with it an astronomical sum of money. It would be appreciative of Mr. Obama to donate that money for some good purpose rather than dumping it into his account which is already overflowing.

On the political front, this prize is a strong indicator of ‘Mr. Obama not being Mr. Bush’. The United States has always been anti-Europe; especially anti-Russia. US has always tried to portray itself as a guiding, dominating and destructive super-power which the world has never liked. Obama’s coming into the political picture has made the globe believe in his leadership qualities. His initiative to resume dialogue process with the Muslim world, his decision of withdrawal of missile base facility at Poland has pleased the Russians, his decision to permanently close the Guantanamo bay facility at Cuba is also a welcome decision. But all this long list of works is yet to be finished. Even the ground-work is not yet complete. So has the Nobel committee chosen him just for his promises? Was he chosen just for his words over action? If this is the reason, then the award should rightly go to his smart speech writers or be a mark of his rhetoric skills.  Sometimes, the prize is given as an encouragement to the individuals to accomplish something exceptional for the benefit of humanity.

The Nobel to Obama shoulders upon him an enormous sense of responsibility and a call to give a real picture to his words and promises. Obama himself said, ‘I accept this prize as a call to action.’ This is the time to show the world the ‘change’ he promised during his election campaign. This is the time to bring peace and harmony and improve inter country relations. This is the time to showcase the United States as a constructive, harmonious and an equal super power. This is the time to bring ‘peace’ to environment by passing the climate change bill. This is the time to finish the Afghan and Iraq wars. This is the time to eliminate Taliban’s name from the world map. This is the time to ban nuclear testing, to ban nuclear energy for military purpose and to emphasize nuclear disarmament. This is the time to frame policies to prevent a future recession. The road is tumultuous and challenging.   Establishing all these tasks would make him an undisputed Nobel Prize victor and justify the award. Miles and miles to go…..

About the Author

Julie’s Gift: Memories of London $12.28 Kevin and Julie travel to London. Kevin loathes sightseeing. Julie is the quintessential tourist. Kevin ends up enjoying the trip but doesn’t tell Julie. He secretly writes a book about his fond memories to surprise her and express his love….