I don’t find it refreshing, I find it scary as hell. When it comes to International affairs, nuclear weapons, airplanes as weapons, suicide bombers etc, I much prefer to be “large and in charge”. Give me the cowboy over the bar-maid anyday. Life is toooooo short, and while this “schmoozer in chief” is busy having a “teachable” moment, we can all be blown to frickin’ smithereens.

I guess I musta missed the talks that Al Qaeda offered before 9-11.

Do you ever feel like we’re all just in one mega Punk’d production? Cuz I’m starting to suspect it.

/Stoic

As for the Nobel thing, seriously. We just went through eight years of a dumb guy grabbing his junk and telling the world to “bring it on.” Now we have a guy who at least says we ought to act like grown-ups and try talking before shooting. Some folks find that refreshing. Even Obama thinks the award itself is premature. He said today, “I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.” Some folks within and outside the US would like more dialogue and less Official Grabbing of One’s Presidential Junk in Belligerence. Nobel Peace prizes have always been political statements, and if you think about it, with very few exceptions they’d pretty much have to be. Lech Walesa won in 1983, and Desmond Tutu in 1984. Seems to make obvious sense now, but both of those awards were strong political statements at the time. Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson won while in office, but were not universally loved by all Americans at the time. It’s political.

In the end, though, my amusement over this is with those on the right struggling between trying to act indifferent about it and being all mad about a supposed cult of personality.

Dear Nobel Prize Committee,

I plan on curing cancer and ending world hunger in the near future. Where do I pick up my prize?

Sincerely,

Army Mom