Head of Republican National Committee: Obama doesn't deserve Nobel Peace Prize

One day after Obama was getting criticized for an unsubstantiated snub to the Dalai LamaDalai Lama, the president received a stunning 6:00am phone call from Norway that he had received the Nobel Peace prize by unanimous vote.

In his speech, the president, who is showing a bit more gray hair these days, said he was surprised and humbled by the honor.

"To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize," Obama said in the White House Rose Garden late Friday morning. But he said the peace prize has often been used "to give momentum to a set of causes."

The president accepted the award "as a call to action" to confront the challenges of the 21st century, including nuclear nonproliferation, climate change and racial, ethnic and religious discord.

Being chosen for the Nobel Peace Prize out of 205 nominees, is another blatant example that President Obama is embraced around the world, while at home; he has often been demonized for his activities by Republicans, right-winged radical conservatives and some of his own democratic party. The president has been in a damned if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t situation with Republicans from day one.

What makes the award even more surprising is the fact that Obama had only been in office for a few weeks before the February 1, 2009 deadline for nominees.

"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” said Thorbjoen Jagland, the committee chairman. “His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."

At a press conference in Norway, reporters asked why Obama should receive the prize given the fact that he had not achieved many of his goals and Jagland responded:

"We have not given the prize for what may happen in the future. We are awarding Obama for what he has done in the past year. And we are hoping this may contribute a little bit for what he is trying to do."

The committee said that President Obama won the award due to his extraordinary efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons and his efforts to bring diplomacy back to the world stage. Obama has greatly increased diplomatic cooperation with countries like Russia and China.

When the question was asked in the White House press conference, why Obama deserved a peace prize, when he may be sending more troops to Afghanistan, Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary responded:

"Actions of necessity, are about keeping the peace in a very dangerous area of the world. We must do everything we can to defend our interests and the interests of the rest of the world."

Obama’s speech in Cairo this spring was singled out as a defining moment for the entire world and seemed to set the tone for more inclusion and diplomatic dialog. It signaled the United States departure from the Bush administration go-it-alone attitude.Bush launched the war in Iraq without UN approval. It may be the committee’s message to embrace the vision that Obama has for positioning the United States back on the global stage.

President Obama has traveled to more countries than any other president in his first year—sixteen in all, with trips to China, Singapore, and several other countries planned, before his trip to Copenhagen in December, to participate in the Climate Change Summit.

President Obama said that he, alone, was not deserving of the award and wanted to include the actions of other leaders around the world, who share the same vision.

“Let me be clear, I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations," the president said.

No doubt the recent event at the United Nations and the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, when Obama stood in collaboration with the president of France and the United Kingdom to condemn Iran for its secret uranium enrichment plant: would come to mind.

President Obama is the 4th United States president to win the Nobel Peace prize. The first was Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt in 1906, the second was Woodrow WilsonWoodrow Wilson in 1919, the third was Jimmy CarterJimmy Carter, who had been out of office for 20 years before winning in 2002.

Republican National Committee chairman, Michael Steele, was quick to condemn the committee for giving the award to Obama. Saying that he only won because of his “star power” and grumbled that he “won’t win any prizes here for his job creation or the economy.”

The Nobel Peace prize committee--made up of luminaries from other countries and headquartered in Norway--clearly had a different view of the president’s accomplishments and it was based on his dedication to climate change regulation, the reduction of nuclear proliferation, and efforts to bring peaceful negotiations to countries of the world and his outreach to the Middle East and Muslim world.

The committee does not make it a practice to award the prize to anyone for their “star power.”

Indeed, the fact that the 4th United States president, Barack ObamaBarack Obama, has won the Nobel Peace prize--is something that all Americans, no matter what ideology—should be proud of.

***Copyright DelilahStarling 2009

Sources: CNN, Washington Post, USAToday, Huffington Post, White House press conference