DODGE CITY, Kan. - Yesterday I attended a luncheon of a local civic group. At our table were seated six women, four of whom were certified, blue-blood Republicans and the other two were another wise Democrat and me.
An R asked who had heard the shocking news that Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize. Of course, all of us had. Four of the group were properly stunned and sure that this must have been some kind of political trickery. One asked if any of us knew how winners were selected and by whom. I suggested that perhaps the selection happened because of all his potential for what he might do for the world with our new outlook.
They remembered suddenly that I was - Oh, Horrors! A Democrat! So, now they reminded each other, that this Democrat had been a "good" Democrat and that they had all voted for me when I was in the Kansas House. Thank goodness, I wasn't like all those OTHER Democrats. I responded that I was very proud of being a member of the Democratic Party, the Party of the People. So the subject was changed.
Then I came home this evening, still playing in my head that familiar old game of "I wish I'd said!" Here's what I wish I'd said:
"Obama WAS nominated last February when he had only been in office 11 or 12 days. He was among more than 200 nominees for that spot! He was selected in October, more than eight months after that! He has done so many things in that length of time, but if he had done only the one thing I am thinking about, he would deserve the Nobel Peace Prize in my opinion! That one thing culminated with his actions on September 25, 2009. On that day, he chaired the first-ever United Nations Security Council Summit on Nuclear Proliferation and Disarmament. No US President had ever chaired a Security Council Session before! A resolution was developed that called for elimination of all nuclear weapons in the world. It passed UNANIMOUSLY!! (Don't you think that qualifies as the action of a man of peace??? )
"The reason this could happen is that Obama and President Medvedev of Russia met in April and worked out details that those two big nations could agree on and could promote. Ain't that peaceful??? They know the same thing that all the righties will scream about---what if you can't trust everybody to follow the rules, etc.! Of course, there are lots of rules about verification and enforcement and a hundred other issues that need to be worked out. But this is a START! When the Cold War ended, there were approximately 60,000 nuclear warheads stockpiled in the world. Today that number is reduced to about 23,000. If we don't get that number reduced to zero, we could have a problem. Large nations no longer fear each other as much as they fear what happens if some of these weapons get into the hands of terrorists. That's the big worry now."
That's what I wish I'd said. And then maybe I should have said, "I noticed that Obama's idol was listed as Gandhi and that he reads real books. That sure beats the heck out of somebody whose best buddy is smiling Dick Cheney and who reads 'My Pet Goat.'"
That's what I wish I'd said!
We're so honored that you've joined our band of citizen journalists, Ethel! I hope your words grace our pages here very frequently! This was wonderful first post!
Ethel--It was good to see you at Demofest. Keep the faith out there in Dodge City.