Nobel Peace Prize: At What Cost?

On Friday, America woke to the shocking news that Barack Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize. While there was universal agreement on both sides of the aisle that our President did not earn this award for any actual accomplishments; some have been trying to spin this as some sort of victory for America; not to mention labeling those of us on the right as terrorists for not celebrating this supposed victory. The truth of the matter is that this award is a slap in the face to America’s history as a strong economic and international leader, and encourages behavior that will only embolden the terrorists with whom we are at war.

The other night, Bill O’Reilly was explaining that this award meant the world would view America as a peace-loving nation. Brent Budowsky, lectured the “talk America down” Republicans for attacking the announcement, saying “this is good for America.” TIm Kaine claimed that the prize was “an affirmation of the fact that the United States has returned to its longstanding role as a world leader.” America is popular again; may we all celebrate with great enthusiasm. If only there wasn’t that nagging question of what price President Obama has paid in order usher in this era of good will.

In January, most conservatives cheered Barack Obama’s actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, where he mostly kept President Bush’s policies intact. Unfortunately, this agreement on foreign affairs quickly dissolved, as Obama began his series of apology tours through South America, Egypt and Europe. His administration ignored the corrupt Iranian elections, and gave little to no support to the democracy advocates being killed as they protested in the streets of Tehran. Weeks later, his administration attempted to bully Honduras into reinstating a corrupt president who had attempted his own coup of the country’s democratic government. Then our President left our Eastern European allies in the lurch when he abandoned the missile defense system there as a conciliatory move towards the Russians (for which he received nothing in return). And now we are seeing what may become the beginning of an about face on Afghanistan, as President Obama changes his tune on the Taliban.

It would seem as though the Nobel committee is only congratulating our President for emasculating America’s role as a leader and advocate for democracy. As usual, America’s popularity rises only when we abandon the position of strength which has secured both ourselves and our allies over the past eight years. Rush Limbaugh said it best with these words: “[The world] love[s] a weakened, neutered US, and this is their way of promoting that concept.”

Of course, by taking this stance, Rush and the rest of us have “thrown in [our] lot with the terrorists” according to the DNC. Democrats would rather we blindly cheer as our President wins a popularity contest, while our enemies gather and strengthen their own positions. This last week, America’s status as an economic world leader weakened further as rumors surfaced that the Gulf states were considering abandoning the dollar. At the same time, our President risks emboldening terrorists around the world as he toys with the idea of giving the Taliban any sort of victory in Afghanistan.

So, I’m afraid this moment of triumph for America is anything but. While some may be tempted to smile and wave as our President accepts this award as some sort of victory for our national pride I can’t help but picture a beaming Carrie being crowned the prom queen as a bucket of pig’s blood hovers dangerously above.