What Were They Thinking?

I cannot believe that the Nobel Prize committee chose Barak Obama to receive this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. I thought you actually had to do something to get the prize. What are they thinking? They think he’s changed the tone of foreign relations?? They should have given the prize to the American people for electing someone who professes an interest in creating peace in the world, not to him for what he might do. Lord knows we could use the money.

It could be that in the future President Obama will achieve great things. He’s off to s slow start, but we can hope, but right now he does not deserve to be in the company of previous winners such as the Dahlia Lama, Martin Luther King, Jimmy Carter, and Al Gore. The Nobel Committee has cheapened their prize in my opinion. I don’t think Obama deserves the prize just for not being George Bush as laudable as that accomplishment is.

Dear President Obama

Several weeks ago my then four-year-old grandson Gabriel came to me asking how to spell Obama. A few weeks before that at dinner out of the blue he had asked my husband and I if all the soldiers just went home wouldn’t there be peace then? When he brought the subject up again two days later I told him that he ought to write a letter to the President and tell him his idea.

Three weeks went by before he came to me with paper and pencil (I got him a pen) and asked how to spell Obama. His patient Mamae sat with him and made him sound out every word he wanted to write. It went something like Dear President Obama, If you let all the soldiers go home then there would be peace. Sincerely, Gabriel Francis Casey-Aguinaga. I briefly contemplated writing a note of my own to include with his explaining that this was the singular work of the mind of a four-year-old alone, but by the time I asked if he’d sealed the envelope it was too late so I addressed it, put a stamp on it and the next day put it in the mailbox in front of the house we share with Gabriel and his parents.

Many more weeks have passed. This morning I left for Oregon to attend the Oregon Lavender Festival. This afternoon my son called me saying that Gabriel had something to tell me. “Remember when I wrote the letter to President Obama?” Of course I remembered. “I got a letter from him today!” He sounded so excited! I told him I couldn’t wait to see it when I get home on Monday. When my son got back on the telephone he told me that one of Gabriel’s comments had been “It’s just like the President is right here in the room and we’re having a conversation!”

I had hoped that eventually Gabriel would get some sort of response from the Oval Office. My son says it is a form letter, but I will decide for myself when I get to see it on Monday. In the meantime I have a very happy and impressed grandson.

Oh Happy Day

Four years ago I was in mourning. It was not just the disappointment of having the “other guy” win the White House. It was a deep sadness and disbelief that George W. Bush was going to spend four more years occupying the most powerful office in the world, continuing to damage our standing in the world, nibbling on our rights, and waging a war that has only made our lives more dangerous. My naturalized daughter-in-law asked me how it could have happened again after all the lies and corruption. I had no answer for her, but I could not believe that Americans had turned their backs on the values that I believe are the foundation of this country--equality and freedom--and out of fear were attempting to turn the US into some sort of right wing theocracy.

As dark as those days were, the joy I felt on Inauguration Day watching an intelligent, eloquent African American be sworn into the Office of the President of the United States is beyond words. Watching George Bush fly away, I felt an oppressive cloud lift with the helicopter and realize that it truly is a new era in America. Colors look brighter and so does the future. Although living in a world in recession and personally with an uncertain financial future, I cannot help but feel optimistic for the country and the world. The face of America no longer looks only like old white men.

Our willingness to put fear and prejudice behind us cannot end with this historic election and inauguration. Not since the murders of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. have we felt this sense of possibility. We have another chance to get it right. We have another chance to demonstrate American leadership in diplomacy, environmental issues, and sustaining life on the planet. We have another chance to go down the road of equality and freedom and it will take everyone pedaling the bicycle of Democracy. We cannot expect President Obama to do it alone. Tough times and tough choices await us. We have to return to notions long abandoned like thrift and saving and delayed gratification; freedom of religion and privacy; personal responsibilty.

There are right-wing ideologs who are praying for our president’s failure. You’ve only to turn on Fox”News” to hear their venom. President Obama is going to be held to a microscope, criticized and misconstrued. He hadn’t made it to the first inaugural ball before some began to decry his oath-taking which was botched by Justice Roberts. There are those who would rather wish our country ill than to see a Democratic Black Man lead us out of the morass left by the last administration. Undoubtedly some of these people wish President Obama more ill than just failure. Evil does not just dwell in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Perhaps the election of an African American could not have happened in my lifetime without the eight dark years just ended. Perhaps there could not have been a Barak Obama without a George W. Bush. Regardless, I am happy to say, “Nah, nah, nah, nah, hey, hey, goodbye.”