The World seemed flabbergasted when it heard who was awarded with this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Barack Obama? Hasn't he just started? Aren't his achievements limited to rhetoric? How can he be compared to laureates like Mandela and Martin Luther King, who were honored only after having fought for the sake of peace their whole lives? Etc.
In his acceptance speech this morning, Obama looked a bit discomforted to me. He was quick and clever to put the honor in perspective and drew attention to the peace challenges the world is facing: nuclear disarmament, climate change, interreligious dialogue.
I think the Nobel comité took a brave decision. By linking it to a President who still can fail, it took the chance to use its standing to make difference for the common good at the risk of losing that standing. In fact, it did so too in 2007, when the IPCC and Al Gore got the honor, helping bringing the debate on climate change one step further, bringing the final blow to the climate skeptics and making clear that climate change is more than an ecological issue. Isn't an institution like the Nobel Peace Prize far more worthwhile when it has a real role to play?
The decision of the 5 man Nobel Comité may not be democratic, the value we assign to the prize is.
True!
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