NP Take cover

[David Morris]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/unexpected_developments.php?ref=fpblg

Unexpected Developments
Josh Marshall | October 9, 2009, 8:39AM

It's not the accustomed stance of a writer or blogger. But this one
does have me at something of a loss for words. I notice the
condemnation of the Taliban, the edged snark of the superciliati. But
I also see Ana Marie Cox's first-off Twitter: "Apparently Nobel prizes
now being awarded to anyone who is not George Bush." And while less
than generous, I think she's on to the root of the matter. But perhaps
not precisely in the way she thinks.

This is an odd award. You'd expect it to come later in Obama's
presidency and tied to some particular event or accomplishment. But
the unmistakable message of the award is one of the consequences of a
period in which the most powerful country in the world, the
'hyper-power' as the French have it, became the focus of
destabilization and in real if limited ways lawlessness. A harsh
judgment, yes. But a dark period. And Obama has begun, if fitfully and
very imperfectly to many of his supporters, to steer the ship of state
in a different direction. If that seems like a meager accomplishment
to many of the usual Washington types it's a profound reflection of
their own enablement of the Bush era and how compromised they are by
it, how much they perpetuated the belief that it was 'normal history'
rather than dark aberration.


Mike Beiderbecke <beider19 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> The right wing is just about to go ballistic. Expect all out assault.
>
> Barak Obama wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.