Friday, October 9, 2009

The audacity of hope

I woke up to the news that President Obama had won the Nobel peace prize. After checking the calendar to make sure that I hadn't slept until April 1, I started trying to think how that could have happened. To quote Dr. Suess, I puzzled and puzzled 'til my puzzler got sore.

Sure Obama has united parts of this country, mostly the Republican parts that are united in opposition to health care, a better climate, and evolution.

And sure he's pursuing more peaceful policies, such as keeping only some of the detainees in Guantanamo and having predator drones fire missiles at wedding rehearsal dinners instead of actual wedding parties.

Heck, one of these days he may even make a decision about what we're going to do in Afghanistan.

But once you get past there, the resume really thins out.

In the end, the answer that I come to is that the Nobel committee has awarded the equivalent of one of those self-esteem trophies that the last place kids' soccer team gets at its Fuddruckers end-of-season banquet. You can almost hear them saying, "Way to be there Barry!"