Dang Those Scandinavians!

If the numbers haven't changed too much in recent years, and I bet they haven't: The Swedes and the Norwegians have one of, if not THE highest education level of people in general and women in particular, and have us beat in the lowest birth rates for both countries as well.

They've always been known as being progressive, and today, the Norwegian delegation that choose the Swedish-based Nobel Prize saw the potential and the future, along with the accomplishments of a very briefly serving President Barack Obama.

The speed with which people asked if President Obama "deserved" the Nobel Peace Prize is astounding to me.

This is a Swedish prize, who if you read the Wikipedia article about it, The Prize is bestowed upon by the Norwegians because they didn't have any foreign policy at the time, and figured they could be fairer than their Swedish counterparts.

"According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

To me, the overnight tone of conciliation is a signal of our strength and ability to stand up for what we believe in without firing a shot in anger.

This doesn't mean that Obama had to achieve world peace, it only means that the Norwegians figured he did the best job of it in recent months than any of his competition for the prize.

So yeah. I'm excited. Yeah, I wish they'd waited a year or two or more only because I think his work has just begun.

My list of stuff I want over with including Guantanamo Bay prisoners being held, and
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is still there. But we didn't get into it in 8 months and it'll take more than 8 to get out.

I'll just never get why those who think he's done so little think he's such a menace. If anything our last president's "Cowboy Diplomacy" of the last 8 years was a bigger threat to peace than anything.

I guess some of us Americans aren't happy unless we're kickin' some ass.

Fortunately I'm glad President Obama had the class and dignity to see it as it was -- not as a high five for doing what he has in a short time (and it's more than "nothing" and less than "world peace") -- but instead he said he saw it as as a "call to action" to continue our progress towards peace.

And first, that meant changing our bully tactics to a much more peaceful one of cooperation, and he's succeeded at that in spades if you ask me.

Congratulations President Obama.