Congratulations on the Nobel! but…

Congratulations to President Obama on winning the Nobel Peace Prize!

But…

As I have already been reading, there are a number of folks that are already saying that he does not deserve it because he has not been in office long enough, which I have to agree with, but maybe the Nobel committee also included his early work in Chicago in helping to (re)build communities…

As you may or may not know, President Obama joins three other Presidents with this unique honor:

• President Theodore Roosevelt (R) in 1906
• President Woodrow Wilson (D) in 1919
• President Jimmy Carter (D) in 2002

And I will include Vice President Al Gore (D), who shared the prize in 2007.

What I find very interesting in this list, is that 80% of the Winners are Democrats, and the last three have been within my life time.

Personally, I think that Jimmy Carter has done far more good for the World since he left office. The man is amazing!

Anyhow, back to my thought…

With only one Republican winner on the list, what does that say about the Republican party?

Shall we review the past 45+ years?

• President Lyndon B. Johnson [D] (1963-1969)
  • Vietnam War
• President Richard Nixon [R] (1969-1974)
  • Vietnam War
• President Gerald Ford [R] (1974-1977)
  • Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I)
• President Jimmy Carter [D] (1977-1981)
  • Camp David Accords
  • Torrijos–Carter Treaties
  • Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II)
• President Ronald Reagan [R] (1981-1989)
  • Called the Soviet Union as an “evil empire”
  • Reagan Doctrine
  • Responsible for the “Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)” aka – “Star Wars”
  • Did hold “talks” with Mikhail Gorbachev (Nobel Prize winner in 1990) to end the “Cold War”;
• President George H. W. Bush [R] (1989-1993)
  • Persian Gulf War I
• President William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton [D] (1993-2001)
  • Impeachment Trial over the Lewinsky scandal
• President George W. Bush [R] (2001-2009)
  • War on Terrorism
    • War in Afghanistan
    • Invasion of Iraq
      • Persian Gulf War II        

During this time, the Republican Party has started or continued more Wars then the Democrats, which seems to continue into their Political agenda on such things as Health Care Reform.

This is not saying the Democrats are any better, but in the immortal words of Rodney King during the 1992 LA Riots “People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?”.

Hopefully, President Obama will use this newly won honor to bring civility to the political bickering in Washington…

- CC

 

Additional References:

• All Nobel Peace Prize Laureates
• List of Presidents of the United States

Handing Over the Keys

Handing Over the Keys