Nobel Laureate, My President, Barack Obama

See??? I told you there would be politics!!

Today, to my utter amazement, I awoke to discover the President of my country had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Take a moment: I know I needed one.

I say amazement. I mean bewilderment. I like our president. I like a lot about him. He's smart. He has no problem with that "vision thing." http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/quotations/phrasefable/visionthing/

But the Nobel Prize? The Nobel Peace Prize? Perhaps the most prestigious international award EVER??

And then I read this in the NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/world/10nobel.html?ref=politics wherein the Chair of the RNC all but accuses Obama of robbing more deserving people of this award. Well WHOA there, Nellie. Obama knew he was nominated. He surely dismissed it, as I would have, had I known. But he didn't campaign for it. He didn't award it to himself, and frankly, the Norwegians have no ulterior motives here. They don't need us or him all that much.

I'm lucy lefty liberal, as you might know. And the nasty tone of Michael Steele set my teeth on edge. Yes. I was surprised. Yes, as President, it is hard to see what he has accomplished that he would deserve this mantle. But my back was up.

And I thought if this nasty nasty man can take the same emotions I had, the same thoughts, and turn them into such complete vitriol, then I need to rethink this.

And I have.

On Eleven, September, 2001, we were attacked. It was a horror show, a reality show that none of us living then will ever forget. As time passed we learned who attacked us and how. And then within a few days many Americans were asking "Why do they hate us?" I didn't fit that profile.

I don't think an unprovoked attack against an office building is ever justifiable, but I did-and do- think that I know why hatred of America proliferated. We stopped being the champion of underdog democracy, we chose tyranny if we could pick the dictator. We meddled in so-called second and third world countries, and walked away from the messes we left behind. We chose our battles based on our pocketbooks and not our humanity.

The United States, my country, was attacked on 9/11 in part because hatred of America was kind of in vogue and kind of understandable.

Today my president-my President- was given the Peace Prize.

I was as bewildered as he was.

And so, I have decided to look at it this way: The United States of America is back. The world loves us again.

The audacity is this: The world did not want to be disappointed with us. They wanted to love us.

They love us again.