1st Blog...Obama...whatever else comes up

I thought i would welcome myself to the 21st century nearly a decade late by writing my first blog. I want to make it clear that i will more than likely focus on politics with in this realm. I'm an independent myself but welcome all views and ideas. I havent so much as read a political article or dove into this subject matter in nearly 5 years. I spent the majority of my college career involved in school and WV state politics; after taking a lengthy sebatical and realizing whats going on in the world today i felt compelled to start writing down ideas.

Let's get right into it!

Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize (NPP)!

First of all congratulations... If my memory serves me correctly Obama is the 4th US president to win the NPP. Some of my family members who love proof sources will no doubt check for accuracy with this claim. I guess the million dollar question though is why?? I was absolutely not a fan of the previous administration and truly believe they did more harm than good particularly where foreign policy is concerned. So did he win this merely because he is not Bush? Supposedly it was for "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." Everytime i see the president he's cutting a ribbon or dribbling a basketball at some inner city youth fundraiser. Not that those events arent important, but it seems like he's on TV more than Letterman! I also found it ironic that the day he won the NPP he met with his war council to consider sending over 40k more troops to Afghanistan. I understand that the current administration sees this as affirmation of their aggressive efforts to reach out across the world. And you certainly have to acknowledge the hard work of trying to turn that dialogue into actual progress on difficult problems like forging Israeli-Palestinian peace. But what about solving our problems here in the US? Like 2 little wars that are currently going on where OUR troops are dying everyday...or perhaps a little thing called unemployment or healthcare tort reform??How about fixing that first before we decide to promote peace with other nations? I think this award puts new pressure on the president from the right and left. Conservatives like Ed Rollins were quick to charge the honor will only highlight the fact that the president has few achievements to point to yet. "I think certainly you have to give him an 'A' for trying," he said. "But at the end of the day, what has he accomplished?" Liberals have attacked the Obama as well saying...ok "Mr. Peacemaker" how about a time table for a withdrawal from these wars that we're in..

The NPP has been bestowed on men and women such as the Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, and Pres. Carter. Does Obama really deserve at this stage to be mentioned with these other names?? It's like letting a native american in med school with a 2.5 GPA and a mediocre MCAT from a lousy state school...can he do the work? prolly so but is he as deserving as that 4.0 african american or white student who graduated with honors from Yale? Sorry folks...I'm ecstatic that our President can now put a sentence together and that we're repairing foreign relations but the Nobel Peace Prize...really??

I've always said the presidency is a tough gig that i certainly wouldnt want it. That does not deter the Right or Left from cutting the president any slack, and rightfully so. He is the leader of the free world and certainly a lot is demanded of him.

Feel free to comment...i might be daring enough to attack health care reform from a pharmaceutical sales rep POV next time...that should be fun!