Obama Almost Like a Superman

OBAMA BRINGS AMERICA BACK IN THE MAINSTREAM

By Robert Weller

The United States is back in the world's favor faster than almost anyone could have predicted. President Barack ObamaBarack Obama, less than a year in office, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The decision comes as Obama has sent out indications that he will seek a peaceful end to the Afghanistan conflict.

The Nobel Committee announced Friday that it had awarded its annual peace prize to President Obama “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

Americans had gotten used to Obama jetting around the world to meet with foreign leaders, often being warmly received.

Obama seemed no less surprised than the rest of the world, saying he was "surprised and deeply humbled." He also paid heed to the committee's call to arms, promising that at the end of the day the world would be happy with the vote.

“To be honest,” the president said “I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who have been honored by this prize, men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.”

Sources said he planned to go to Norway to accept the prize in December.


Few U.S. presidents have been thrown in a whirlwind like Obama, facing not only a major recession but wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Middle Eastern drama and the possibility of Iran and North Korean arming themselves with nuclear weapons.

The committee said the award was made for deeds already done. "We would hope this will enhance what he is trying to do," Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the committee said in the New York Times.

”Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the Nobel jury said. The decision was unanimous.

His attempts to reach out to Muslims was perhaps the crown jewel.

They were not the only skeptics. Indeed, many U.S. allies such as France and Germany are back to the warmer relations than they had before his predecessor, President BushPresident Bush, often sought to proceed with support from those two major powers and others.

American tourists found themselves, often welcome in Europe, suddenly being asked if their president spoke for them.

Obama's right-wing critics, some of whom seem unable to accept his large presidential victory, probably will rev up their assaults on his Americanism. Some at the far extreme may even see it as anti-American.

He has been the target of some claims that continue to float in the air despite being disproved, even that he was not born in America.

Some critics, who at times seemed almost rabid, cheered when Obama's home base, Chicago, lost the Olympics to Rio. The Hawaii-born president got the last laugh: the world's most prestigious honor.

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