Joe Conason: A Nobel for Defeating Cheneyism

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091014_a_nobel_for_defeating_cheneyism/

A Nobel for Defeating Cheneyism
Posted on Oct 15, 2009

By Joe Conason

snip//

The five members of the Nobel committee are much too polite to explain their decision in unambiguous terms. All were selected by Norway’s parliament, in accordance with the terms of Alfred Nobel’s will, and are politicians themselves. That could be why they were so impressed by the American president’s single big and undeniable accomplishment last November: He inflicted a clear political defeat on those excitable extremists and their politicians, and removed them from power before they could do any further damage to world peace and security.

He kicked out the neoconservative faction, led by former Vice President Dick Cheney, that prefers armed confrontation to diplomacy—and the world applauded in relief, along with the majority of Americans. Whatever the new president may or may not have done since then, nobody beyond a minority of die-hards would wish the Cheney faction to return.

Stopping John McCain, a neoconservative belligerent, and his dangerously clueless sidekick, Sarah Palin, was a significant achievement—and a close call until the final week or so. That is what Obama did, along with millions of other Americans. It is not a mere aspiration or a hope or a pretty speech.

Will the prize help Obama? For a fair assessment of that issue, it is helpful to know who gave it to him. Conspiracy theorists and smug commentators alike contend that the prize is somehow diminished by a supposed association with the left, always neglecting to note in their own ignorance that such figures as Henry Kissinger were among the recipients back when Norway’s parliament was thoroughly dominated by socialists.

While the committee’s current chairman is indeed a leader of the social democratic Labor Party, two of the members of the committee that voted unanimously to honor Obama are politicians of the right. The deputy chairman is the former leader of Norway’s Young Conservatives, and another member also belongs to a conservative party.

Right and left, the world agrees that Obama is a refreshing change. He is restoring the prestige and admiration squandered by the Bush-Cheney regime, as worldwide surveys have lately proved. The prize is merely a symbol of what has already happened—and what may someday help the president to achieve his most important international objectives.

[whatchamacallit]

1. Although a bit tongue in cheek

this is might be the best explanation of the rationale behind the award to date. I'm going with it anyway.