Congratulations, Mr. President

Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize today. Whatever else this honor represents, I see it as symbolic repudiation of the first 8 years of the decade — as a medal for being the AntiBush. Naturally conservatives and wingnuts have gone absolutely apoplectic, and I’m glad to see people standing up to that shabby vexing spectacle.

HuffPo: Either sensing an opening to cast the Republican Party as actively rooting against America, or just fed up with the stream of negative responses, the Democratic National Committee put out an unusually blunt statement Friday morning. The gist: that the GOP sides with the terrorists.

“The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists — the Taliban and Hamas this morning — in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,” wrote DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse. “Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize — an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride — unless of course you are the Republican Party. The 2009 version of the Republican Party has no boundaries, has no shame and has proved that they will put politics above patriotism at every turn. It’s no wonder only 20 percent of Americans admit to being Republicans anymore – it’s an embarrassing label to claim.”

It’s nice to know I can hang out 24/7 on Awards Daily and never miss a moment of breaking news. First I heard of this was at 4:45 a.m. from AD reader, dominik, in Germany. Sad to say, that excited announcement from a European friend wasn’t matched by some skeptics in the US. I’ve heard Obama’s Nobel Prize compared to Marisa Tomei’s Oscar. But in contrast to that kind of petty sniping, it warms my heart to see the happy worldwide reaction as a sign of global optimism. The last time I felt this proud of an American Peace Prize winner was when Al Gore received his Nobel medal, 7 months after winning his Oscar, as two cool consolation prizes for the presidential election. And thus ends any further attempt to link the Nobel Prize news to the Oscars.

I’m not concerned about wondering if Obama has done enough to win the Nobel Peace Prize yet, because I know he’ll do his best to live up to the honor. Like Tom Hanks told Matt Damon at the end of Saving Private Ryan: “Earn this, earn it.” Whether or not Barack Obama has done enough to win the Nobel is open to debate, but I have no doubt he will earn it.

Check out President Obama’s gracious and humble reaction in his informal acceptance speech, after the cut.