Notes on the President's Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech

President Barack Obama accepted his Nobel Peace Prize today in Oslo, Norway. This occasion was poignant in that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. accepted his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Dec. 10, 1964-- 45 years ago today. In his speech, King said that violence and civilization are "antithetical concepts." Today, President Obama praised both King and Gandhi for their committment to nonviolence. However, the president also said that sometimes war is "necessary and morally justified." I've got to be honest here-- I'm a little concerned right now. I'm worried that Obama is feeling the pressure to pander to conservatives in order to be re-elected in 2012. (Oddly enough, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich praised the president's speech. A few commentators even likened Obama to his predecessor, George W. Bush.) Like I've said before, my biggest fear in regards to this matter is that Obama will fall into the LBJ trap with Afghanistan. Still, Obama's Afghan strategy does appear to be carefully mapped out, and I do believe that he will try to end U.S. involvement in the Middle East by summer 2011. I wish he could do so sooner, but we have to be realistic. Overall, I think that this president is pro-peace and would choose it over war if he was not backed into a corner with this ugly mess left over by the Bush administration. There's been some protests around the world against Obama this past week. There's a part of me that wants to protest, but, as King and Gandhi taught us, we can't achieve anything if we're motivated by anger. If you're going to protest, you must be informed and motivated by a desire to empower others and create peace.