A few weeks after surprising announcement of the Nobel Committee awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to current US president, it seems that this event was just another blip on the mediasphere. During that otherwise uneventful Friday, the consensus among commentators in Poland developed very quickly. One has to bear in mind the fact that some of these pundits already had been hostile towards Obama due to his cancellation of missile shield, but for me the uniformity of opinion was a little bit surprising. However, the topic itself disappeared almost as suddenly as it emerged.
Across the media spectrum, the verdict was unanimous. The whole situation is a joke. Marcin Gadziński of Gazeta Wyborcza entitled his blogpost “Nobelol” [PL] and summed best twitter one-liners mocking the event. Meanwhile, his colleague Bartek Węglarczyk, head of foreign news section of Gazeta Wyborcza wrote on his blog [PL] that the Obama’s Nobel proves total devaluation of the prize, and ironically pointed out that since Chinese dissidents did not get the award since they’ve stopped planning anything, and in this year Nobel was awarded only for plans and hopes (hopes for world without nuclear weapons, to be specific).
Wojciech Romanski [PL], journalist of Rzeczpospolita daily, said that it seems that before the announcement on Friday even a Polish prime minister Donald Tusk had a fighting chance of getting the prize, because the Nobel committee said that Obama got his award for – among other things – creating new diplomatic atmosphere and Tusk can be credited for that as well in Poland. Jaroslaw Gizinski [PL], commentator of Newsweek pointed out the gap between Obama’s election promises and his actual accomplishments. He also hypothesizes that the Committee was still under the charm of the senator from Chicago campaign, triumph and slogans while making the decision. Dominika Cosic [PL], Brussels correspondent of Wprost, another major Polish weekly opinion magazine, said that Obama won’t change the world only using his rhetoric and he was awarded Nobel was only awarded for great PR skills.
It’s true that Obama during his short presidency did not achieve anything comparable to most of the previous Nobel Peace Prize recipients. It is also true that this Nobel became a congeniality and popularity contest more than ever and political cynicism or calculation prevents the Committee from awarding truly heroic figures. But in the world, where difference between “real” and media factoids is blurry, and where mere rhetoric can change hearts and minds, can the Nobel committee be at least credited with audacity of hope? In this case, it is hope that Obama will remain a great communicator, and his oratory skills – while not sufficient to change the world – will be at least a good start.
Michal Kolanko
