The Nobel Peace Prize

It is been a longer period than usual between blogs here. And I have noticed on political blogs I follow that the same can be said.

It is hard to write another blog about the health care debate when it is just more about the spiteful lies of the opposition. What more can be said about Iran which has not been covered to ad nauseam for over two decades? Or Afghanistan for that matter. No country has ever been able to win a war there.

The economy is looking better but we all want the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and we want it now. We are adults and should know that is not going to happen. But now we blame Obama for the mess he inherited from his predecessor.

Poor President Obama. He took over the reins on a nest of worms from G.W. Bush and he has been expected to turn it into a bed of roses over night. But there are areas in which has made huge strides. The world loves us now. Or at least tolerates us. After eight years of being loathed that is quite nice frankly.

Today the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to him. The Nobel committee praised Obama's creation of "a new climate in international politics." Obama, they said, had returned multilateral diplomacy and institutions like the U.N. to the center of the world stage. The 2009 prize appeared intended to support initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.

"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," Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee said. "In the past year Obama has been a key person for important initiatives in the U.N. for nuclear disarmament and to set a completely new agenda for the Muslim world and East-West relations."

I think it is wise to take a lesson from this. Now is the time for all of us to stop whining about what has not been achieved in this very young presidency and acknowledge the progress made at least on the world stage if not within our own borders. Stop yelling and pointing fingers. If you are not part of the solution to a kinder and gentler world you are part of the problem.

And as an example of what communications rather than cowboy diplomacy can accomplish we have our President, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. How about some peace here in the United States on issues like health care?