Obama indeed may have won the Nobel Prize, not for the Peace he helped realize, but for the Hope he has managed to inspire.
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Realizing that peace was probably nowhere near, the NorwegianNobel Committee may have decided to award the Nobel Prize to Obama, for Hope.According to reports, the Committee voted unanimously and with ease for Obama,for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy andcooperation between peoples." The Nobel committee recognized Obama'sefforts to solve complex global problems including working toward a world freeof nuclear weapons. Obama, who has been barely nine months President of theUnited States, was awakened to the news. In reaction, he said he was “humbledto be selected".

Elsewhere, the news was received with mixed feelings. On myFacebook page many responded with one word “Why” and a question mark. Oneperson jokingly used an Arabic Language Metaphoric Style which when translatedwould mean, “Obama won for what will be”. He won for the peace that will be orthe peace that could be. Someone else asked: "Now we are celebrating Christmas in June?" Perhaps what we are celebrating is a paradigm shift that may allow us to celebrate Christmas in December!

Obama’s visit to Cairo and his speech were warmlyreceived by millions if not billions of people from every faith andnationality. His attempts to build bridges between civilizations were admired.His persistent efforts to solve complex conflicts gave hope and optimism tomany. Finally, here is a world leader, who truly cares. Beyond calculations of votesand political gains, someone who has the courage to tackle issues which couldpolitically backfire.

Two weeks ago, Obama’s efforts to bring about peace in theMiddle East came to a difficult test. The Israeli Prime Minister, BenjaminNetanyahu, practically forced the American President to give up his demand fora freeze on building the Israeli Settlements on Occupied Palestinian Territory.A day after meeting U.S. President Barack Obama at the tripartite summit in NewYork, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN that the U.S. demand for acomplete settlement freeze in the West Bank was "costing us a great dealof time." The covert message to Obama seemed to be, don’t waste your time.

Uri Avneri, an Israeli writer and founder of the Gush Shalompeace movement, commented on the confrontation in Ramallah online with a piecetitled “The Drama And The Farce: Netanyahu Humiliates Obama”. In Avneri’s eyes,Obama had come unprepared to exert pressure on Israel. Avneri asked ”Why did Obama insist on thesettlement freeze – in itself a very reasonable demand – if he was unable tostand his ground?”

Netanyahu won that battle, showed his people and the worldthat he is “no sucker”. Obama may have lost his ground this one time, but hehas hopefully learned a lesson. Perhaps Obama also showed the world Netanyahu’strue intentions towards peace.

It is not realistic to expect that a century-long conflictlike the one in Palestine, or decades-long nuclear arms race will all be instantlyresolved by one tap of some magic wand which Obama alone keeps. So, when theNobel Prize Committee says that "Only very rarely has a person to the sameextent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for abetter future," the Committee is being realistic in its expectations. Noone alone can achieve world peace. Obama has won for propagating Hope and forextending a hand for peace and understanding. Now it is the turn of others to capturethat opportunity and embrace that hand before it is no longer there. In his speech commenting on winning the prize, Obama declared that he sees the prize not as recognition for his own achievements, but as a call to action and as means of giving momentum to a set of causes meeting common challenges.

The Committee rejected the claim that awarding the Nobel Prizeto Obama at such an early stage gives undue recognition to efforts which areyet to bear realized fruits. The Committee demonstrated that it intends to promoteObama just it had done for Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 recognizing his efforts toopen up the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. The Committee further announcedthat Obama’s "diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are tolead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are sharedby the majority of the world's population,". Plainly put, as “Realism”ruled, force and military might alone decided the fate of conflicts. Thus theworld rewarded aggression and consequently promoted further conflict and anendless race to acquire instruments of destruction, war and terror. In awarding the Nobel Prize to Obama, theCommittee promotes a new era of Post-Realism, where justice and not might,should rule, not only in poet’s lyrics or beauty queen speeches, but in thebehavior of world leaders and in the conduct of nations.

Obama indeed may have won the Nobel Prize, not for the Peacehe helped realize, but for the Hope he has managed to inspire. The Hope thatour world can truly be a better place. And like everything else, Peace may startwith one shred of hope. Hope for Peace.

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