There are days I wonder .......

In the past few days, I have been amazed at the strange bedfellows created by President Obama being selected for the Nobel Peace Prize. We are treated to the sight of the self-identified dittoheads, teabaggers, and (is there a nice word for people who believe Glenn Beck?) striding hand in hand with the Taliban, Hamas, and anyone else who wishes the United States ill. For people who claim they are, at least in some measure, patriotic, this is strange, though hardly unexpected, company.

In a year that saw a record 205 nominations at the official close, and another 70 in the period between close and the committee's first meeting, there are a great number of people who are not thrilled about their favorite making the cut.

[FULL DISCLOSURE STATEMENT]
I signed nominating petitions for three people none of whom was President Obama. None of them were very likely contenders, and, under the rules, we'll never know where any nominee wound up in the selection process.

[ADDENDUM TO DISCLOSURE]
I'm told I should identify them so: Rebiya Kadeer, Pete Seeger, and Angela Merkle.

Back to the polemic.

The number of people who seem to think that a Peace Prize Laureate must have accomplished some great thing seem to fall into two groups.

First, there are those who honestly do not understand the process, the purpose, and/or the philosophy of the Peace Prize as it has evolved. I'll speak to that in a minute.

Second, there those who, for their own reasons, see some advantage in attacking the man himself. From the FOX News people, who should know better, to the idiot radio host who claimed the award was "an example of affirmative action," to the political types who seek to demean anything this President (who has the gall to be the wrong color) accomplishes, this group is beneath contempt. To cheer when the United States loses an Olympic Games bid and curse when the incumbent President of the Unites States is selected for the Nobel Peace Prize is shameful. In the Administration of Woodrow Wilson, the last incumbent President to be so honored, such behavior would clearly have qualified under The Alien and Sedition Acts of the time.

A Nobel Peace Prize reflects upon the person and the nation. In an amazingly few months, the United States has made unexpected progress toward mending the relationships destroyed by the former Administration. To paraphrase President Sarkozy, we have begun to act as a member of the family of nations, rather than the schoolyard bully, and we are resuming our place in the hearts of the people of the world.

More progress has been made in the areas of arms control, reduction of nuclear stockpiles, and establishing meaning dialog between nations in the past nine months than in the preceeding eight years. Granted, the heart of some of that was in the cancellation of some of the previous Administration's more egregious attacks on what President G. W. Bush is on record as calling "just a dam' piece of paper" (AKA the United States Constitution), but that alone would not have convinced the world of our return to maturity. The past few decades have seen frequent reversals in U.S. policy with the change of Administration. What is convincing is that President Obama, arguably the most knowledgeable President in the field of the Constitution and Constitutional Law since Madison, is ensuring that many of the repairs cannot be undone by a mere change in policy. The Chambers of Congress, whose responsibility it is to pass the enabling legislation, may not like the idea of doing their jobs, but the work is in progress, and the new levels of transparency will ensure the American people (those who care to seek out the facts, at least) know who voted for the good of the Republic and who voted their own self-interest.

The hour is late, and, once again, I lack the hours or the strength to write this shorter. Please wade through the weeds, gentle reader. I do think there are some interesting thing to be found.