Bust some buttons, America!

POLITICAL WAVES

Bust some buttons, America!

Hope wins! It’s energized the world for the long haul ahead; it’s encouraged the changes that are coming as welcomed. Obama is a Peace Prize winner and America’s black eye is fading; but we’ve got a long way to go. Some of us are solidifying that old meme that a prophet has no honor in his own country — and on the heels of the GOP behavior toward the losing Olympics bid, I’m just disgusted by these people. I don’t know what their ‘real American’ looks like but if it’s the face they see in their mirrors each morning, count me out. I’m pleased as punch and I don’t want to hear one cynical, politicized, disparaging, jealous, hateful comment; of course, that’s not to be in these messy times. We’ve put all the weight of the world on Obama’s slight shoulders and if things don’t get better Right This Minute, well … what a loser! You’ll find more on this in the weekly, here.

This is what the Nobel Committee had to say:

“… Obama was awarded the Peace Prize for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” and highlighted Obama’s efforts to strengthen international bodies and promote nuclear disarmament. “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,” the Committee said in announcing the prize. “His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.”

This is what the Prez had to say:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luQ8ujkmekE&feature=player_embedded

This is what the Righty’s had to say:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8e28D4vxsU&feature=player_embedded

This is what the DNC had to say about what the Righty’s had to say:

“The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists — the Taliban and Hamas this morning — in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,” wrote DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse. “Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize — an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride — unless of course you are the Republican Party. The 2009 version of the Republican Party has no boundaries, has no shame and has proved that they will put politics above patriotism at every turn. It’s no wonder only 20 percent of Americans admit to being Republicans anymore - it’s an embarrassing label to claim.”

In the last nine months this nation has made a turn; with all the smoke and mirrors, the problems and obstructions, that’s hard to get a grip on. But it’s happening, slow and sure. Here’s what’s happening lately, just in the last few days:

The House approved a Hate Crimes bill that includes gender issues.

Al Franken got an amendment through that gives civil rights to those employed by defense contractors [we all remember the rape cases.]

Veterans are actually being taken care of.

Obama’s Ocean Policy Council is looking to redefine their responsibility to fragile ocean areas.

And giving me enormous satisfaction, the White House is taking on FOX News – calling ‘em on their infotainment status and correcting their swill, point by point.

We’re poised on healthcare reform of some sort; it looks more do-able by the day. All the negative rhetoric of the summer is being replaced by calm assurance.

For just turning this nation back toward its principals, Obama deserves this award; for giving the nations around the world another way to look at this country without shivering with dread, and for having the grace to get up every morning and confidently face what nobody else can, or wants to.

Congrats, big guy! You accepted this award on behalf of all those who work toward a better world — that’s us. So we accept, and thank you for making us proud again.

Jude

ps — got a fun picture over at the blog; check it out.

Nobel Committee, Strategic as Ever, Taps Obama for Peace Prize
Robert Naiman, Common Dreams
Friday, October 9, 2009

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama.

Some initial commentary has called the award unprecedented and wondered why the committee would give President Obama the award when he “hasn’t done anything yet.”

But anyone who thinks this award is unprecedented hasn’t been paying attention.

The Nobel Committee gave South African Bishop Desmond Tutu the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his leadership of efforts to abolish apartheid in South Africa. Apartheid wasn’t fully abolished in South Africa until 1994. The committee could have waited until after apartheid was abolished to say, “Well done!” But the point of the award was to help bring down apartheid by strengthening Bishop Tutu’s efforts. In particular, everyone knew that it was going to be much harder for the apartheid regime to crack down on Tutu after the Nobel Committee wrapped him in its protective cloak of world praise.

That’s what the Nobel Committee is trying to do for Obama now. It’s giving an award to encourage the change in world relations that Obama has promised, and to try to help shield Obama against his domestic adversaries. The committee is well aware that history is contingent and that Obama might fail. It knows very well that the same country that elected Obama also gave the world George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.

The initial steps that Obama has taken are already under fierce attack. The Obama Administration has now recognized that the Afghan Taliban are not a threat to the United States and that the United States can live with the Afghan Taliban playing a role in the government of Afghanistan. But right-wing forces in the military, Congress, think thanks and the media are denouncing these moves towards sanity as surrender. They want a full-out Vietnam against the Taliban.

The Obama Administration has begun its promised diplomatic engagement with Iran. Of course, as every honest person knew, real engagement meant de-emphasizing the unachievable demand that Iran end its enrichment of uranium and instead focusing on achievable demands like opening Iranian enrichment facilities more fully to UN inspections and greater international oversight over the enriched uranium that Iran has already produced. Here also, the “endless war” right-wing is trying to undermine Obama.

In giving this award, the Nobel Committee is telling these right-wing forces to back off. And it’s sending a message of encouragement to those Americans who put Obama in office:

“Showing signs of significant improvement. Keep up the good work.” ++

Congratulations President Obama on the Nobel Peace Prize — Now Please Earn it!
[Mike Moore]

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Dear President Obama,

How outstanding that you’ve been recognized today as a man of peace. Your swift, early pronouncements — you will close Guantanamo, you will bring the troops home from Iraq, you want a nuclear weapon-free world, you admitted to the Iranians that we overthrew their democratically-elected president in 1953, you made that great speech to the Islamic world in Cairo, you’ve eliminated that useless term “The War on Terror,” you’ve put an end to torture — these have all made us and the rest of
the world feel a bit more safe considering the disaster of the past eight years. In eight months you have done an about face and taken this country in a much more sane direction.

But…

The irony that you have been awarded this prize on the 2nd day of the ninth year of our War in Afghanistan is not lost on anyone. You are truly at a crossroads now. You can listen to the generals and expand the war (only to result in a far-too-predictable defeat) or you can declare Bush’s Wars over, and bring all the troops home. Now. That’s what a true man of peace would do.

There is nothing wrong with you doing what the last guy failed to do — capture the man or men responsible for the mass murder of 3,000 people on 9/11. BUT YOU CANNOT DO THAT WITH TANKS AND TROOPS. You are pursuing a criminal, not an army. You do not use a stick of dynamite to get rid of a mouse.

The Taliban is another matter. That is a problem for the people of Afghanistan to resolve — just as we did in 1776, the French did in 1789, the Cubans did in 1959, the Nicaraguans did in 1979 and the people of East Berlin did in 1989. One thing is certain through all revolutions by people who wish to be free — they ultimately have to bring about that freedom themselves. Others can be supportive, but freedom can not be delivered from the front seat of someone else’s Humvee.

You have to end our involvement in Afghanistan now. If you don’t, you’ll have no choice but to return the prize to Oslo.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com

P.S. Your opposition has spent the morning attacking you for bringing such good will to this country. Why do they hate America so much? I get the feeling that if you found the cure for cancer this afternoon they’d be denouncing you for destroying free enterprise because cancer centers would have to close. There are those who say you’ve done nothing yet to deserve this award. As far as I’m concerned, the very fact that you’ve offered to walk into the minefield of hate and try to undo the irreparable damage the last president did is not only appreciated by me and millions of others, it is also an act of true bravery. That’s why you got the prize. The whole world is depending on the U.S. — and you — to literally save this planet. Let’s not let them down. ++
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