If President Obama wishes to be seen as a serious world leader, he should decline the Nobel Peace Prize. Doing so would be, in fact, the most honorable thing for him to do.
A very simple expression of gratitude for being considered would be appropriate. And a courageous footnote of honesty, by simply stating that because he had been in office for only twelve days at the time of the nomination, he had done nothing to deserve it, and that he would not feel at ease accepting the prize, would be refreshing.
It would be a bold, courageous, and indeed masterful move. It would underscore the humility he claims to seek for America to have on the world stage, and it would tell his critics that he is not as entirely one dimensional as their mountains of evidence have begun to suggest. It would be one significant way to take a step towards a serious approach to leadership that, to speak quite frankly, America can ill afford to wait for a moment longer.
He has already expressed his honest observation that he is not worthy of the prize. Partisan, even rancorous, Democrats have scoffed at the idea that he should be compared to Dr. King and FDR. Even NPR's own Juan Williams exclaimed it's utter foolishness. These observations, all from the political left, are true.
In addition to making a statement about his nation's humility, and an even more significant one about his own, it would do something else favorable for the President. Declining the prize would wipe clean the slate of public perception that he is a man who is more concerned about his image than of the substance of his office.
It is my sense that at present the American people, many of whom supported President Obama, are growing weary with the "carnival dog barker" element of his administration. To be inundated with coverage of a most self indulgent speech on behalf of the humiliation of a failed Olympic bid, as opposed to being focused on how our fighting men and women are losing their morale from lack of a clear battle plan is, on balance, not something the American people wish to see. You do realize that of the roughly 800 lives we've lost in Afghanistan over eight years, that 57 of them have come in the forty days the military's request for additional troops has gathered dust on his desk. In accepting the award, another trip to a Scandinavian nation is now in the works.
And the need for the President's attention goes far beyond the crucial matter in Afghanistan. Just in the last week, the Health Care bill in the Senate has had public funding for abortion reinserted into the legislation. And on the Congressional side of that debate, Minority Leader John Boehner is attempting to point out that since passage, the House version has had 75 alterations to the bill. Many are questioning the legality of these "technical" changes.
In the last week, it has also been discovered that Kevin Jennings, President Obama's safe schools czar has been linked to NAMBLA, and to one of its iconic personalities Henry Hay. Never a more disgusting and revolting group of individuals has ever existed that posed a threat to the welfare of children, yet President Obama has put one of their supporters in direct contact with millions of school children.
President Obama had promised in his controversial appearance at Notre Dame University, that his administration would honor the "conscience rights" of health care workers, never forcing them to administer care, or medicines that violate their own sense of right and wrong. But while the President is in between the jets from Copenhagen and Oslo, and shooting hoops with party members, his administration is breaking that promise even this minute.
The President's supporters, particularly the vile trolls on conservative web-sites, and the vindictive ones on social networks, have spent the last few days attempting to defend the "accomplishment" of President Obama in winning the Nobel Prize. In post after post, saying repeatedly, "he deserves it because he's taken a 180 degree turn from the Bush administration."
Yet informed people on the left know this is not the case either. American forces are still in the green zone in Iraq. We are still at war with terrorists. Gitmo still houses animals who cannot be placed elsewhere, and that facility will miss its latest rescheduled deadline to be closed.
The Nobel committee specifically cited the President's speech to the university students in Cairo as one of the compelling factors that swayed their vote.
Yet in that speech, President Obama claimed the values of Islam and America were one and the same, and the last time I checked, we Americans do not take kindly to being told that we must subjugate our women, and we certainly do not find "honor" in murdering those in our family who embarrass us.
President Obama is getting used by the international elitists who have hatred in their heart for an America that is both strong and good. He is getting played like a puppy who is having a treat given him for sitting still long enough.
In awarding Obama, the Nobel committee permanently sealed its fate as an absurd laughingstock, but this time they've made the President of the United States, and by extension our entire nation, the punch-line.
If President Obama brings peace to the middle east, or establishes free societies where neighbors in Afghanistan and Iraq live in harmonious community with one another then he should accept this award at a later date. But everyone on the planet knows that 12 days in he had done zippo to earn it or the $1.4 million he would most likely give to ACORN by way of prize money.
No Mr. President, if you wished to demonstrate greatness instead of pettiness, if you wished to demonstrate seriousness instead of being scoffed at, and if you wished to demonstrate your own commitment to making the world better, and not merely talking about doing so, your solution would be simple.
Give it back!
Kevin McCullough is the nationally syndicated host of "'Xtreme' Radio and columnist based in New York. He blogs at www.muscleheadrevolution.com.
