Nobel prize: Incentive or accomplishment?

The Nobel committee's choice of President Obama as the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize was based on the assessment of the shortlist: Apparently no one else has done more to that effect than the American president. It's hard, of course, to figure what Obama managed to do in the first 10 days into his term that made him the appropriate recipient of the Nobel Prize -- since nominations must be postmarked by Feb. 1 of the year during which the Nobel Prize is granted.

The Nobel Peace Prize is not supposed to be a call to action or an endorsement of a president's goal of achieving peace: It's a prize for doing, not promising. On the other hand, it is unreasonable for a peace prize to become a potential political liability for its winner and an ethical liability for its committee. Obama is criticized for caring too much about opinion in Europe while the Norwegian committee is thought to have violated its principles.

Something may have changed. Everybody wins for trying? Why not? It's been a long time since an American president was willing to listen and negotiate.

What the American people don't seem to realize is the possibility that their president is honoured for his efforts indeed. The echo of the former president is not supplanted by the hope that Obama has inspired. The Bush administration had captured international attention to a greater extent for its unilateral – lack of – diplomacy. It may be too early for the world to forget, but it's not too early to reward someone's commitment to the role of dialogue.

In the Doctrine of International Community is our future endeavour the new action? The answer is no. Obama has accomplished nothing yet but generating goodwill overseas. It is a question of the time to judge whether he deserves a major peace prize. A Nobel Prize, though, is like a mirror: to encourage responsible action in the future may be the result of a total lack of responsibility in the past.

(Gianni Skaragas’s article is quoted from the Iowa City Press-Citizen)

* Gianni Skaragas is a published author and screenwriter. His English writings appear regularly in literary journals and newspapers throughout the European world and the United States. He is a Fulbrighter.