Hope is Its Own Reward: FDR, Obama, and the Nobel Peace Prize

Paraphrasing the Bible, Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in his first inaugural address “where there is no vision, the people perish.” From the depths of despair and uncertainty that was the Great Depression, he became the standard bearer for hope. By marshaling the power of his sunny disposition, he spoke for all Americans who craved action in the face of calamity. His calm confidence was both a stark repudiation of the “do nothing” Hoover administration and a promise for a brighter future.

Fast forward 77 years. A young, bright president is handed 2 mismanaged wars, an economy on the brink of total collapse, a deeply divided, distracted, and distrustful electorate, and a country largely despised by the rest of the world. In his inaugural speech, he too invokes scripture, saying “the time has come to set aside childish things.” Further he adds, “on this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.” To quote another proverb of sorts, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

President Obama was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his concrete accomplishments. And frankly, with an opposition more committed to his failure than to any real solutions to our problems, no one knows how his presidency will pan out. He is being honored for something more intangible, a force that drives innovation and encourages achievement. His very election is proof of his promise:  all things are possible.

But his motivational skills are not his only triumph. His presidency is a repudiation of the past eight years, a public cleansing of the American soul. Upon announcing the award, the committee cited Obama for fostering “a new international climate where multilateral diplomacy has regained the central position.” Last November, we renounced the cavalier hubris of the Bush Doctrine and told the world that a majority of Americans are sensible people who believe that war is only a last resort.

There was a domestic cleansing as well. As fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel said this morning, Obama “made history by allowing America to correct its own racial injustices” and brought “hope and dignity” back to the Oval Office. With the country still deeply divided and major decisions on the horizon, some might argue that it’s a little early to be heaping platitudes and praise upon this  self-annointed and unproven agent of change. But that is precisely the point. The committee is honoring the great potential they see in Obama. It is both as an honor and an expectation, another burden on his already over-taxed shoulders.

It will be fun watching the Wacky Right  writhe in a collective apoplectic seizure over this. There will be a feast of insanity from the likes of Michele Bachman, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and whoever writes for Sarah Palin: “What good ever came out of Scandinavia anyway? Expensive vodka? What do you expect from a bunch of elitists snobs and closet communists? Hell, they have Socialized medicine over there!”

They will say these things to cover up their lack of vision. They are on the wrong side of history and they know it. They wish they could turn back the clock to a time when white male hegemony was a given. They want more than the policy defeat of Obama; they want to destroy him as a man, discredit the change he stands for, and tear down his legitimacy. From shouting down Democracy at town hall meetings to calling the President a liar during a speech before Congress, the GOP has become a sad shadow of its former self. “It’s Morning in America” has become “Falure at All Costs.” It’s hard to see where the optimism of a Ronald Reagan would fit in now.

With the hindsight of history we can see that, in essence, FDR was winging it. Not all of his efforts hit the mark. Very reputable historians argue that it was WWII that brought America back from the abyss, not the alphabet soup he and his administration prescribed. But it was his guiding moral principles–a belief in fairness, equity, diplomacy, and most of all hope–that picked us up and made us believe in ourselves again. And that is what the Nobel committee hopes Obama will do now.

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You’re currently reading “Hope is Its Own Reward: FDR, Obama, and the Nobel Peace Prize,” an entry on Donalhinely's Blog

Published:
October 9, 2009 / 4:37 pm
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The Pompous Rant
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