the obama nobel peace prize

What passes for a political “dialogue” in this country has become so distorted by what one wag has described as the “over-the-top, tween-girl-at-a-Jonas-brothers-concert-hysteria” of the right, that I have found myself increasingly just checking out. But President Obama keeps reminding me of our better nature. I was as surprised as anyone by the announcement today that he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I thought it worth taking the time to compose an essay on the subject, and I probably will still do so. But this piece by Rachel Maddow does about as good a job of it as I could hope to:

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Correction:

When I dashed off this post I picked up the phrase, “the ‘over-the-top, tween-girl-at-a-Jonas-brothers-concert-hysteria’ of the right” because it had a nice ring to it. But I didn’t give it sufficient thought. As the father of two pre-tween daughters who have just discovered Beatlemania (we watched “Help” tonight), I realized upon reflection that “over-the-top, tween-girl-at-a-Jonas-brothers-concert-hysteria” is something spontaneous, fun and harmless. It’s a beautiful, innocent, joyful thing, like … a dog chasing a Frisbee. Or something. The hysteria of the right, by contrast, is calculating, cynical and hateful. It was a totally inappropriate metaphor. I apologize to tween girls.