Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize

When I heard President Obama was receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, my first reaction was, well, shocked. I wasn't sure if that honor was typically given to presidents - especially one so new to the office. I associated that award with people whose names I typically can't pronounce who I haven't ever heard of (with the exception of them winning the Nobel Prize) who do something truly miraculous.
As I thought more about it, I came to the conclusion that as much as it caught me, and many other citizens, off guard, I felt he deserved it. People talk and talk about all the wonderful things he's done and planned and is putting into motion, but this really put a name or a face on his achievements to me. That being said, I can understand where those who felt he did not deserve the award were coming from. At least those who had legitimate reasons - not those who opposed him receiving the award just to oppose him. I might not agree with them, but I don't think many were expecting this.
President Obama came into office with an enormous disaster of a mess to be sorted out and cleaned up. Through all the unemployment, health care, and recession problems, he has still managed to smooth the rough edges of many of our foreign relations and inspired others to do the same. And that is exactly what won Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize; "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

In Simon Maloy's post, "The tea party teapot tempest rages on," the author talks about the ridiculous accusations made by conservatives in politics and the media regarding President Obama's back-to-school address. Though, the accusing parties were really just attempting to build controversy from nothing. The author effectively speaks to his audience of liberal-oriented, politically knowledgeable citizens. Maloy's credibility is evident and shown in his knowledge of the conservative party and conservative media's various controversial attempts to essentially make problems out of thin air.


He accurately calls the conservative media out on their attempts to make Rep. Joe Wilson a political hero after his incredibly disrespectful outburst during the president's address to restate the case for health care reform. Maloy brings needed attention to the fact that the reporting surrounding Wilson's childish outburst strayed from the fact that the incident was utterly disrespectful and very, truly wrong. I think Simon Maloy's main point in the whole article was that the media outlet is broken. "It's a symptom of a broken media culture that a small group of fringe conservatives can scream insults and falsehoods at the president or their representatives in Congress, bring no facts to bear in support of their allegations, and still be treated as major players in a policy debate."