Obama and the Problematic Prize

My friend David Kilgour published this piece in the Washington Post last week.  I picked it up on The Mark News site, where I contribute a thought or two on occasion.

David does a short and precise analysis of the context surrounding President Obama's winning of the Nobel Peace Prize.  He questions the the wisdom of the award and even more so, its acceptance. 

Obama has done a great job of undoing much of the hate and harm inherent in the former Bush administration.  His commitment to a bi-partisan solution to issues like healthcare reform have mistakenly assumed a rational Republican response.  Criticism of Obama's policy accomplishments after only 9 months in office are premature at best. 

Repubicans are stuck in the adversarial model of politics.  The don't want the best policy or even a good policy, they only want to win the political argument about the policy.  The power Obama holds in control of the White House, the Senate and the House. This will soon result in President Obama exerting some pure political muscle to make things happen.

Coddling conservatives for consensus is past. President Obama can silence his critics by flexing his political power to serve the purposes for which he was elected in the first place.