Gore ignored in Nobel Peace Prize list

Whether through unexpected delight or profound anger, the world did a double take as it awoke to news Friday that U.S. Pres. Barack Obama had earned the Nobel Peace Prize, making him the fifth -- not fourth -- president to garner the award.

Pres. Al Gore, whom the American people elected in 2000, received the Prize two years ago for his work with climate change and global warming. The media have mistakenly overlooked Gore this week in their coverage of past presidential recipients of the Prize.

The Nobel Foundation praises Obama "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," one day following the president's discussions with Gen. Stanley McChrystal to send 40,000 more troops to fight in Afghanistan.

While the award sends a signal to the world that Obama's efforts are worthy of such honorable recognition, the Prize now sets the highest of expectations for a man Republicans say was too young and inexperienced to serve as Commander in Chief.

As much as it stings to agree with Michael Steele, the Republican National Committee chief got it right when he said Obama "won’t be receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility, or backing up rhetoric with concrete action." Not yet, anyway.

To his credit, Obama's humble response to the Nobel Foundation's announcement proves our president agrees, albeit indirectly, with Steele.

"I don't feel I deserve to be in the company of the transformative people who won this award,” Obama told the nation Friday.

Obama has been president for only nine months. It takes nine months for a child to develop in the womb. Nine months is the length of a typical school year. Nine months into the first Bush administration, 9/11 happened.

Might it be the Nobel people had become so polarized with Bush's pompous middle-finger-to-the-world attitude and overall absence from positive foreign policy that they now find his nemesis personifying that blast of fresh air we've gasped for since 2001? Aside from Bush's efforts to help fight AIDS in Africa, his international outreach involved a steady increase of ego and bloodshed.

Simply put, the Nobel Foundation should have waited on its premature decision to award Pres. Obama the ultimate Prize. It now requires Obama achieve peace while he struggles to balance an unstable economy, the highest-ever unemployment rate and two expensive wars, all created by the previous administration. It will take a lot longer than nine months to heal the world and clean up the mess. Peace will not come until the fighting stops, which should happen by the end of 2011, Obama promised earlier this year. Pledging additional troops to Afghanistan, however, will prove otherwise.

When people asked why I voted for Obama last year, I gave them this answer:

"Because the world will accept, understand, and even like this man."

That alone should be the reason we elect our president. We're in good shape if the rest of the world likes our leader. Maybe that's why he's worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. But not just yet. He's got to prove himself. And he's still got to create peace at home.

Obama promised homosexuals a "commitment" during Saturday's Human Rights Campaign National Dinner to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." He stopped short of providing a timetable of when Congress would honor the reversal of the 1993 military policy, which bans gay soldiers from disclosing their sexuality.

"Finally, we heard something quite remarkable from the President," H.R.C. Pres. Joe Solmonese said in an email.

As thousands of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders march on Washington today, the Senate will vote this week on a defense policy bill which includes hate crimes legislation that will -- for the first time -- protect homosexuals. The bill, assuming it passes the Senate, will go to Obama's desk to be signed into law, once and for all. Let's hope he makes good on his commitment.

Until then, the Republicans must remember Obama is our elected leader, and should cease their vile campaign to discredit him while boasting their own sense of patriotism. If ever there were a time for the G.O.P. to drop its childish antics toward Obama, it is now. After all, the only five presidents to take the Nobel Peace Prize have been left-leaning men (except for that white supremacist Woodrow Wilson).

Makes one wonder: If the liberals are the ones doing all the peacemaking, what's wrong with all you "compassionate conservatives"?