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World Leaders, Nobel Laureates Offer Obama Praise, Skepticism

Friday 09 October 2009

by: Margaret Talev  |  McClatchy Newspapers

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(Photo Illustration: Troy Page / t r u t h o u t, sources: lwr and id3 / Flickr)

    Washington - Here are some reactions to President Barack Obama's winning of the Nobel Peace Prize:

    "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 ... 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 ... I will accept this award as a call to action." - President Barack Obama

    "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." - Nobel Chairman Thorbjoern Jagland

    "He hasn't had the time to do anything yet ... " -Lech Walesa, former Polish president, 1983 Nobel winner

    "... it sets the seal on America's return to the heart of all the world's peoples... I am convinced that everyone, all over the world, will draw from this an even stronger determination to cooperate with you and with America to achieve these common objectives." - French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in letter to President Obama

    "Because of him, the rest of the world is starting to see us in a more positive way. I'm very excited about this," U.S. Airman Frederick Jones, at the Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan.

    "... a bold statement of international support for his vision," Former President Jimmy Carter, 2002 Nobel winner

    "I join my fellow Americans in expressing pride in our president on this occasion." - Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., 2008 Republican presidential nominee

    "The real question Americans are asking is, 'What has President Obama actually accomplished?' It is unfortunate that the president's star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights ... President Obama won't be receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility, or backing up rhetoric with concrete action." - Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele

    "The Nobel Peace Prize is a testament to his leadership and vision and a tribute to American values." - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

    "The president has consistently shown that he is committed to reaching out to other nations and positioning America to once again be the global leader for peace and prosperity. This is a great honor for our country and reminds us all of the promise our nation holds." - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif.

    "We congratulate President Obama as a fellow Nobel Laureate and welcome this recognition that achieving a nuclear weapons free world is critical." - John Pastore, physician, co-recipient of the 1985 Nobel award to International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War

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    Sources: Speeches, statements, news releases, interviews

  

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Comments

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I'm stunned that any

 Sat, 10/10/2009 - 19:27 — Cecilia Woloch (not verified)
I'm stunned that any American would feel anything other than pride and exhilaration at the Nobel's choice of President Obama. The comments that he's "not ready," that it's "too soon" in his presidency, that he "hasn't had time to accomplish his goals," smack to me of condescension and racism. President Obama is not a schoolboy to be judged and graded on his achievements by others, especially by others who have achieved nothing to compare with what he's achieved. Have we forgotten that we hadn't had a truly democratic presidential election in the United States for at least eight years? He galvanized a nation and ran a campaign that restored the democratic process to one of the world's greatest -- and therefore potentially most dangerous -- powers. He brought democracy back to America, and hope, and integrity. And he did all of this while being Black. That, alone, merits the Nobel prize. Agreed, that the wars the Bush/Cheney administration began are still raging, and the economic crisis they created hasn't been reversed overnight, but neither had Mother Theresa wiped out world hunger when she accepted the prize; neither had Jimmy Carter overseen construction of a home for every homeless family on the planet. But the Nobel prize acknoweldges the vision and effort and right action of such people, and President Obama is one of them. The "real question" is, What have YOU done, Michael Steele? Except to sit in schoolmarmish judgement on one of the greatest leaders of our time.

At a moment that calls for

 Sat, 10/10/2009 - 20:20 — Anne Cox (not verified)
At a moment that calls for graciousness, eloquence and thoughtfulness, Michael Steele's comments reek of petty partisanship and cheap rhetoric. The pathetic insults of the shrill voices on the right do more to damage themselves than to sully President Obama. Who has done more this past year to change the direction of this country...and subsequently of the world, toward a more peaceful, egalitarian, and just approach to the world's problems? I would very much like for someone to name that person who has done more than President Obama.

Mother Teresa wasn't trying

 Sun, 10/11/2009 - 02:10 — Anonymous (not verified)
Mother Teresa wasn't trying to wipe out world hunger, or even cure people in Calcutta of illness. She was trying to save their souls by making them Christians before they died. She denied them all but the most basic medication, nothing stronger than aspirin or Tylenol, even when simple antibiotics, easily available in Calcutta, could have cured them. There are others, Roman Catholics included, who really do try to end hunger and cure disease, but they do not receive the Nobel peace prize. In the same way, Obama is setting US troops up in 7 military bases in Colombia and 2 in Panama, greatly destabilizing Latin America and frightening all of Colombia's and Panama's neighbors. And he receives the Nobel Peace Prize. As Melanie Klein remarked on Democracy Now!, never has the Nobel committee been so political, or so delusional. (Well, Mother Teresa came pretty close. Ditto Albert Schweitzer.)

Read what Howard Zinn has to

 Sun, 10/11/2009 - 04:50 — Anonymous (not verified)
Read what Howard Zinn has to say about this (http://www.truthout.org/101009A). It is rather odd that Obama's continued commitment to Bush's Iraq and Afghanistan wars, plus the addition of his own military action in Pakistan and pronounced saber-rattling toward Iran would be viewed as Peace Prize material. I don't know about you, but I am getting rather tired of making excuses for him. I have yet to see anything that leads me to believe he is truly serious about accomplishing any of the things he promised during the campaign. Excuses are cheap. Results take more than pretty speeches.

Cecilia, I respectfully

 Sun, 10/11/2009 - 08:09 — TJ (not verified)
Cecilia, I respectfully believe your charges of "condescension and racism" are overly harsh. I voted for President Obama in both the primary and general elections, and I believe several of his decisions since taking office have indicated a certain loss or abdication of control beyond his campaign promises to bring all parties to the table. Like many, especially on the left, I believe this award seems premature, but am also guardedly hopeful it will allow President Obama a measure of political cover to bring out more of Candidate Obama in the Oval Office. I applaud the potential the Nobel Prize Committee recognizes in our president, but I also recognize that as a nation, we're still in a hole that's been eight years in the digging, and that this honor given to this man we've put up to represent the best in us does not yet represent the relief we elected him to bring to the least of us. So be patient with those of us who doubt, because I do believe there's more and better to come from this president, but I'm still waiting for him to bring it forth.

There are three things

 Mon, 10/12/2009 - 17:50 — Tomo (not verified)
There are three things President Obama must do right now if he wishes to earn the award he's been given: 1) he must reverse himself on his public statement that perhaps some people now held captive may be held indefinitely without ever enjoying due process; 2) he must end the legal anomaly of Guantanamo Prison; 3) he must encourage and support investigations of very plausible evidence that Americans have authorized torture and engaged in it. Short of doing these things, he is condoning the abandonment of law by America, and without the rule of law, there is no peace.