Topic: Liberal Fascism
It’s true that in the past, the Nobel Peace Prize has been given to some pretty dubious characters. But even with that caveat, this year’s award to Barack Obama seems bizarre.
Let me stipulate at this point that I’m not criticizing the President for winning the prize. As far as we know, he was as surprised as anyone by last week’s announcement. It may even have embarrassed him. For surely Obama realizes that the Nobel came to him not for anything he’s done but rather for what he is: America’s first post-patriotic president.
Consciously or not, Obama has communicated the impression that he sees nothing special about America. To him it’s simply one country among many—larger, richer and more powerful than most, to be sure, but American exceptionalism? Please! Small wonder that Europe’s postmodern elites—to whom anti-Americanism comes as naturally as breathing—love this guy. He also shares their hostility toward Israel, albeit in a less virulent form. From the European point of view, therefore, no American could be more worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.
But it seems to me that there was also an element of condescension in Obama’s selection— condescension toward both the man and the country he leads. Perhaps that explains why the Nobel Peace Prize, supposedly such a high honor, has left him looking slightly diminished. Since when has an American president required the encouragement of a committee of jaundiced Norwegian leftists? For that was the motive behind their selection of Obama: to encourage him in his post-patriotic course. An approving pat on the head at this juncture might prevent backsliding later.
I’d like to believe that the President is too smart to fall for such a transparent ploy. But everybody likes flattery, after all, and when it comes to a man as vain as Barack Obama, laying it on with a snow shovel generally does the trick.
