Obama, Sotomayor get it wrong

Every once in awhile I disagree with some who usually think as I do. Last Friday, I found myself disagreeing with President Barack Obama and with words spoken years ago by newly confirmed and seated U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Last Friday, President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He, along with millions of others in America and around the world, including other Nobel recipients, were surprised.

After the initial surprise and shock wore off, many Americans of both the liberal and conservative persuasion asked how he earned the accolade.

Those who agreed and those who disagreed with his selection were split 50-50. All in all, most of the media and Democrats were proud of Obama’s selection. Most also concluded his selection was a rebuke of former President George W. Bush.

When I first saw the announcement scrolling across the bottom of Good Morning America’s telecast, I said to my wife, “There’s going to be a lot of upset Republicans.”

After tuning my car radio on the way to work to the Tom Joyner Morning Show, he said to his co-host that a number of conservative talk radio hosts were going to have a really bad day. Joyner specifically named Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Neal Boortz.

Joyner and I were right. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele immediately downplayed Obama’s selection, and conservative talk-radio was aghast. Limbaugh and the Taliban (the terrorist organization America is currently at war with) were also quick to say that Obama didn’t deserve the award. Rush even went so far as to say that he and the Taliban were in agreement on the president’s merits in winning the prize.

During a mid-morning news conference Obama stated he was humbled and undeserving of the prize. He also stated he’d accept the accompanying $1.4 million award but would donate it to charity.

In 2001, Sotomayor said, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

I’m only mentioning her statement here because we’ve learned that five white Nobel selection committeemen unanimously voted to award Obama the prize.

We’re told that the president was nominated for the award just 10 days after being inaugurated. Granted, his nomination for the award at the time was premature but he’s since proved he’s earned it.

He has redirected our troops from a falsified war in Iraq to fight the terrorists that attacked us on 9/11. He’s set a timetable to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, declared an end to torture, begun the normalization of relations with Cuba, reduced tensions with Russia and is talking (albeit distantly) with North Korea.

He was awarded the prize for what the world hopes he does – bring peace by destroying al-Qaida.

To paraphrase Obama and Sotomayor, I most humbly and respectfully disagree with them. He has earned the Nobel Peace Prize and contrary to what she said, this time, five white men got it right.

Nelson Graves, of Augusta County, is a columnist for The News Virginian. E-mail him at