Although I agree there were more deserving individuals for the award than President Obama, I must completely dispute the argument from the right that the Nobel Peace Prize is now tainted or not as meaningful. Let's not forget that this is an award whose nominees include Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Joseph Stalin (Enough said.) and whose recipients include Yasser Arafat (a known terrorist), Henry Kissinger (a warmonger) and Shimon Peres (massacred hundreds of Lebanese). Therefore, you will have to excuse me if I don't protest President Obama's award because it is obvious that the Nobel Peace Prize has become highly political.
With that being said, I am bewildered most by one objector in particular: Michael Steele. I certainly expected the Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) to release a statement against President Obama receiving the award and I certainly expected his comments to be immaturely along these lines: "It is unfortunate that the President's star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights. One thing is certain -- President Obama won't be receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility or backing up rhetoric with concrete action." However, I am amazed that Steele would begin his statement with this sentence: "The real question Americans are asking is, 'What has President Obama actually accomplished?'." While his election as the first African-American President has no bearing on the issues our country currently faces, it is most truly an enormous accomplishment which provides tremendous hope to millions of people worldwide.
What I am most frustrated about with Steele's comments is his inability to realize (or desire not to admit) the fact that President Obama's election accomplished one more feat: his Chairman of the RNC. Does Steele honestly believe that, if an African-American had not been elected to the White House, he would be in the position he is in today? President Obama got Steele elected without even voting for him! The Republican Party is attempting to use Steele in order to hopefully attract voters from a group that they have continuously ignored year after year. Now don't get me wrong. With remarks such as the ones below from just one interview on "The Curtis Sliwa Show" on ABC Radio earlier this year, it is obvious that Steele and the Republican Party know what they're doing. (By the way, this interview occurred less than a month after Steele assumed office in his new role.)
- When discussing Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (who was born to immigrants from India), Steele offered "some slum love out to my buddy. Gov. Bobby Jindal is doing a friggin' awesome job in his state."
- In describing President Obama's stimulus package, Steele uttered: "There's a lot of bling bling -- the bling bling's got bling bling in this package. That's how bad it is."
- "[The Republican Party] has got to take it's head out of it's you know what and recognize that America doesn't look like America in 1952. That America now is something very different, very beautiful -- that has a lot of strips and strains to it. But it's real and we've got to get in the real."
- In response to Meghan McCain, daughter of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and her opinion that Steele's new "hip-hop" strategy isn't "going to work", Steele claimed: "I'm not stupid. I was born in [Washington, D.C.] on 8th Street. I know what's up. I know what time it is. I used to hang out in Brooklyn and in the Bronx as a teenager. I know what the real world is like."
- After Sliwa informed Steele that he was going to play a song from Jay-Z, Steele responded with "There you go, playa".
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