LMU's Nobel Problem

Kudos for you reading another commentary on President Obama's Nobel win. The one thing I'm not missing as I study abroad here in London is the fight over whether or not Obama deserved the MVP award for world leaders. To be fair London media is even nastier than ours—think about what would happen if the Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks wrote for The National Enquirer—but at least the British don't bring semi-automatic rifles to rallies waving badly photoshopped Obama signs with Hitlerstaches.

That aside, I'm noticing that in all the noise the left and the right are making, no one's talking how the Nobel affects Obama and his next three to seven years. What I mean by that is what Obama represents: change we want to believe in. Obama campaigned as the leader who would bring not just the US but the world into a new era of diplomacy and peacemaking. So far, so good—his handling of Iran, the international economic crisis, and renewed talks for nuclear disarmament all prove he's got what it takes.

The problem with the Nobel isn't about the lack of things he's done though. Saying that he'll rest on his laurels is closer, but still off the mark. The Nobel isn't making Obama too comfortable—it's make us too uncomfortable. Specifically, our generation—the generation that was instrumental in helping Obama win in the first place.

A year ago on this campus seven Nobel winners came for a four-day event. I was there, watching Jody Williams roar to the crowd that she didn't win it by sitting on the sidelines. I was there, watching Desmond Tutu share his story of defeating apartheid despite being imprisoned, beaten, and having to watch people die and suffer. I was there when our entire campus watched spellbound as seven peacemakers told us that if we wanted peace, we not only had to work for it, but fight for it, with all our hearts and passions.

Compare what these people did with what Obama has done.

Then, make the connection. These winners didn't have anybody rooting for them when they started, so their drive for peace was long, arduous, and difficult. But it made them and their cause stronger, to a point that really did change the world.

The fact they had no expectations, in effect, made them better peacemakers. So what happens when all the world's expectations are lumped onto a man who never went through what Jody Williams and Desmond Tutu went through—a man that also happens to be the most powerful leader in the world?

Going back to LMU, the fact that we are all-in on the President's potential is not healthy for us either. We are now linked to his potential success or failure. Obama not meeting our expectations will not only fail bringing about peace, but it will shatter the hopes of a generation of Americans.

I still have faith in our President, but I was very disappointed when he chose to accept the Prize. It would have been the ultimate symbol of his potential if he said, “Check back with me in ten years”. It would be have a powerful statement to tell the world that he acknowledges change is something we can't believe in until we make it happen. It would have been the best diplomatic move in American history to tell the world that peace isn't that easy.

But by accepting it, he's made his job harder. Because it's no longer a laurel. It's a chain that binds him to our generation, our country, and the world's now-impossible expectations. This isn't healthy for him, for us, or for change.