Still trying to justify that Nobel Peace Prize

For someone who won the Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama hasn’t made great strides toward world peace.

Sure, he pledged to close Gitmo — in fact, that was one of the first things he did, along with putting an end to the “enhanced interrogation techniques” championed by his predecessor. And then...well, what?

He has made overtures to Russia, Cuba and China, and other world leaders seem to hate him less than they did his predecessor.

Of course, considering that George W. Bush was pretty much globally reviled, it would be hard to top him. But what else has Obama done?

He hasn’t really improved the situation in the Middle East. We’re still in Iraq and Afghanistan, and those countries’ infrastructures are still a wreck. We still have dismal relations with Iran, and our relations with Israel are, if anything, even messier than when Bush was in office.

Is any of this surprising? No, but I’m saddened that Obama hasn’t lived up to his potential or to that yet-unearned Nobel.

Looking at the official list put out by the White House, everything he’s done since ordering the closure of Gitmo has involved “appointing” or “announcing a strategy.” There’s no “he went out and did this, and now the world is a better place.”

Maybe I’m too naive. Maybe things just can’t happen that quickly. A year and a half can be short, politics-wise. It takes a long time to negotiate and handle everyone delicately. And world leaders do seem to be very touchy people sometimes.

But it doesn’t seem like he’s done much — or accomplished much that will actually mean anything. So he Appointed Special Envoys and Announced New Plans. Big deal. Plans don’t mean much.

Let’s see what really happens with those plans. In two and a half years — or six and a half — we’ll see if we have better ties with the rest of the world. But if this administration continues to perform the way it has been, we’ll have basically gotten nowhere.


E-mail: hanns@indiana.edu