He won what?!

My first reaction when I heard the news that President Barack Obama won the Nobel Prize for Peace was, "a brother finally won something for nothing!"

Hell, a lot of people who aren't of color have won something for nothing, and ironically his predecessor George W. Bush is the prime example. The self-proclaimed C student was president -- for two terms! Bush is also the reason the rest of the world hates the United States.

Then I thought, I better get one too. I want world peace, and to end poverty, and homelessness, and AIDS, and cancer, and illiteracy, and mom jeans, and spinning rims, and comb-overs, but I digress.

I believe the award is, as the president said "a call to action." He still has leftover crap from the inauguration festivities to deal with and hasn't actually accomplished anything more than getting his children a dog -- which took months.

I suspect former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is down in Texas going "me and Freaky Chris did more ... I mean accomplished more ... than this brother has!"

For the haters

Weeks ago, I wrote about the culture of hate that has evolved since his presidency began. There are too many people in this country who want Obama to fail. I have only voted for two presidential candiates who have won, Obama was one and former President William Jefferson Clinton was the other, by the way, yet I have never wished any of the victors failed. Now people are lining up to try to figure out how they can use the Nobel Prize win against Obama.

After hearing a brother at the gas station or the drug store today say things like "Obama is a baad man," in a good way, I can't help but be pleased the president won the honor. I also appreciate what the award really represents. I think that finally, after the war mongers who came before him pissed off most people around the globe, people are starting to like America again. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of everyone hating the U.S.

I went surfing through the national media sites to see what was being said about Obama's award. I thought this in the New York Times was interesting:

"But there was much praise as well, even if Mr. Obama’s allies worried that the prize might be a liability and even if much of the praise came from Europe, giving ammunition to conservatives who say Mr. Obama cares too much about opinion there.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said the award marked “America’s return to the hearts of the world’s peoples,” while Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said it was an “incentive to the president and to us all” to do more for peace.

“In a short time he has been able to set a new tone throughout the world and to create a readiness for dialogue,” she said.

For a world that at times felt pushed around by a more unilateralist Bush administration, the prize for Mr. Obama seemed wrapped in gratitude for his willingness to listen and negotiate, as well as for his positions on climate change and nuclear disarmament. "

For those of you who play the lottery, I need to know what lucky number does Obama represent! This is another thing I look forward to talking to my son about when he is older.