Nobel Peace Prize

As the title of this post might suggest, I wanted to take some time to discuss something that happened this past Friday. As you all should know by now (and if you don't I am shocked) that President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Many, if not a majority of people, believe that this award has been given prematurely, and that Obama has not done work that deserves to compare him to the likes of Mother Teresa, Rigoberta Menchu, or Martin Luther King Jr. That much may be true, but this does not diminish the significance of the award. Comparing Obam to this monumental peace promoters would be like comparing a rookie in the NBA to LeBron James, of course he doesn't match up yet. Furthermore, it also became known that final nominations for the ballot were due in by February 1st of this year, meaning Obama was in office for only 12 days at the most. Something important to remember is that this is an international award, that is highly respected by the world, and this says that foreign views of our president are extremely well looked upon by outside nations, a fact that is extremely important when dealing with foreign diplomacy. Another thing to know is that the Nobel Peace Prize is also awarded for aspirations of peace, not just actions. It can then give Obama a stronger impact allowing him to enact some of his ideas, but it can also weigh him down if he fails to accomplish his goals. If he does fail, which nobody should wish for (it would be Un-American to desire something like that upon our president) there would be a firestorm of criticism raining down on him about how he is a disgrace to the title. Other critics (Glenn Beck, who suggested it should have gone to the Tea Baggers, which is as good as a self nomination) have suggested that Obama should have turned down the award, but that would have been an extremely foolhardy thing to do. It would be like slapping the rest of the world and the committee in the face saying their expectations are stupid and inexperienced. I feel that it was prematurely awarded, but that it should be used as a tool in any case to achieve peace and thereby earn the title that he was given.

I bring up this topic not to slam Obama or to praise him, but rather to stimulate a civil discussion about the issue.

To tie it more closely to our studies in class, what do you guys think that the philosophers we have read from would say about the idea of rewarding somebody who promotes peace? Would they support the idea or say that trying to put your faith in something like peace is futile?