"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."
President Barack Obama on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009
David Axelrod's statement, " I'd like to believe that winning the Nobel Peace Prize is not a political liability" made me stop and wonder on a possibility.... Would conferring a recognition of that proportion impact/burden an individual like Obama such that he could make choices which he would not have otherwise made? Will the lure of being remembered in posterity make Obama more global and less national? Will the thought of sharing space in history books in years to come with the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, and Nelson Mandela, affect Obama's decision making today, especially on global issues such as immigration, nuclear proliferation, climate change, human rights, and poverty?
The Nobel committee that selected President Obama, based the selection on, "Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons". A preemptive strategy, perhaps, to ensure global peace by presenting a unique opportunity to the leader of the most powerful nation in the world to become revered in the annuls of history. Will this bait of recognition work its charm? Will Obama's decisions henceforth have a distinct global f(l)avor? Will he now scrutinize his agendas under a global/philanthropic lens? Will he consciously or unconsciously try to justify the honor conferred on him, and will the world be the better for it? Will the USA end up becoming the collateral damage in all this?
I am optimistic about my President; yet, these questions linger...
I am optimistic about my President; yet, these questions linger...
