President Obama (& America) win the Nobel Prize

I was humbled and proud when I heard the announcement that the Nobel Prize Committee had awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama.

It was a surprise. While Obama's rhetoric during the campaign and at times when he has been president has soared, his list of accomplishments 9 months into his presidency have been small. It is not easy trying to change the nature and direction of a country like a America.

The reasons for Obama's lack of progress in realizing many of his campaign promises are numerous and complicated. He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center, but that has become mired in difficulties regarding the legal status of many of the inmates and the reluctance of Americans and other countries to house or allow the return of many of those inmates. He has done nothing to end the war in Iraq, and has been content to follow the Status of Forces agreement signed by the Bush Administration. On the domestic front the president proposal's for reform of health care and of the financial services industry have met fierce and determined opposition from what is left of the Republican Party and intense lobbying from insurance companies and the financial services industry.

In accepting the award the President has shown that while he is grateful for the award it may appear that the award is premature. Critics on both the right and the left have said that the President's effort to change America have borne little fruit.

The critcs have a valid point. But there is an important counter argument. The American people elected the president and we the people ( or most of us anyway) want to change America's course. After 30 years of Reaganism and eight years of the Cheney/Bush junta much work needs to be done to return the country to its founding proposition that all men are created equal and that all are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I look at the Peace Prize as an encouragement. The Nobel Committee is acknowledging our effort to change and encouraging to continue on this long difficult path. Obama and his supporters have talked the talk regarding changing America, and some in the world find such talk refreshing after the last eight years of arrogance, stupidity and folly on both the world and domestic stage. But it is up to us to continue working for change, to end the failed wars in Iraq and sadly Afghanistan, reduce our consumption of fossil fuels and our emmission of greenhouse gases, and finally create an America whose economy and political system is sustainable and innovative for many decades to come. The damage done by the narcissistic ideology of Reaganism and of the Cheney/Bush administration will not be corrected in a few months, it will take years.

Though it may take many years to complete America's metamorphosis, it is work that is worth doing. The sooner we start, the sooner we'll be done. The award of the Peace Prize to President Obama can be considered a sign the world appreciates our desire to change. It is up to us to fulfill the promise that we made to ourselves when we elected President Obama in November of 2008. Yes we can!