PEACE: President Obama's take on it

I'm going to break my normal daily posting practice to add a second post. I have just finished watching the President of the United States speak after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. My reactions are fresh, not having taken the time to refine them or temper them. I have not studied the speech; I am reacting to it.

The pageantry and the speech were wonderful. I thought the commentators on MSNBC were accurate in portraying Barack Obama as a "theologian" in this speech. His way of incorporating his faith in speeches is not to quote scripture, something anyone can do by browsing a biblical commentary. His approach to the issues of theology is to explore them deeply. His grasp of profound theological concepts is incredible. In this speech he defined the Barack Obama theological perspective on Peace and War.Rather than recounting the catch phrases of the speech, I leave that for you to research as you watch television replays and newspaper and magazine accounts. I'm sure the whole speech will be reported in detail.

Rather, I want to confess that I was saddened by the experience. I know that I was not the only one feeling sad. I saw it in the face of President Obama and in the face of his wife. What should have been a celebration of a unique and wonderful moment in his life was stolen. Those who have spent the past few weeks chipping away at the decision to award Obama the Nobel Peace Prize have stolen that joy. In their attempts to define, redefine, prognosticate, and analyze the decision they have played roles of amateur psychologists and novice diplomats.

Something sparked the Nobel Committee to award this impressive prize to Barack Obama. It is a privilege given to this Committee and is not dependent upon the wishes, desires, opinions, or criticisms of anyone else. They saw something in Barack Obama that some people do not see. I suspect that we had a glimpse of it in his speech today.

But some people who have the media stage have not seen that characteristic...and probably never will. It is not in their makeup to recognize it. Instead, they will dwell upon their limited and immature understanding of human nature and human quality to deride and defame this man at a point at which people from throughout the world call him a man of hope, and a beacon of promise.

His humility in receiving the award required him to acknowledge his detractors, and to admit that he sees himself as far down on the list of people for whom this award could have been chosen. I think not. The irony of his role as President of a nation at war and as a recipient of the most prominent Peace Prize is not lost on him, and it is not lost on most thinking people. No one "earns" the award, or is "eligible" for it. It is awarded because a wise and carefully-chosen group of people understand the purpose of the award and the need to be prophetic from time to time in making the selection.

The President's point was that peace is something to be attained, but cannot be realized until those who reject peace have been disabled. The war in Afghanistan is necessary at this time to destabilize those who, in their flawed understanding of Islam, have waged terror on the world. Negotiations with these terrorists are not effective as they have adopted ideological stances which reject the decency, trust, and sincerity of those who seek peace. Peace is not the quality for Al Qaeda as it is for others. The Jihad they have declared has no place in it for the attaining of peace.

The President was depicted by some of the commentators on MSNBC as a pragmatist, not an idealist. They said he made that distinction himself in the speech. Pragmatically it is necessary to suffer the pangs of this war in order to attain the joy of peace. That is an Obama Doctrine, and it is not a sound bite or a narcissistic reflection. It is a theologically and diplomatically sound doctrine which embraces the yearning for peace which must come at a cost. Some will reject that notion; others will criticize it out of ignorance. But it defines this man, and it is a definition about which we can be proud.

This was one of those prophetic moments about which I spoke earlier. I'm sorry that it was such a sad occasion for the Obamas. They deserve better.