A word of advice to the GOP from my mother: if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Once again, the Republican Party is so consumed by thuggery and hate, they see a political opportunity to slam the president rather than to praise America.
What kind of traitor so actively roots for America and its President to fail? Let's put aside the GOP rooting for the stimulus package to fail rather than working to ensure it would do exactly what it has done - bring America back from the brink of financial disaster; let's also put aside the lies and attacks designed to turn America's need for real health care reform into "Waterloo." The Olympics would have created jobs immediately and been a source of national pride. Now they are attacking the Nobel Peace Prize?
Even some "friends," and others in the DC punditocracy carp that this honor could widen the divide in Washington, and are downplaying the significance with analysis about whether or not this came too early in his presidency.
The only person who seems to be taking this in stride is President Obama.
The Nobel Prize is a world-respected honor. One that as President Obama so graciously said, many people share in the credit. Every American, regardless of political party, can and should take pride in such an honor.
This represents an opportunity for America to truly turn the page on our nation's standing and relationships on the world stage. Of course we have a lot of work to do, disagreements to be revealed and many tough decisions to be made. But we enter those discussions in a completely different and stronger place than we were a year ago
I'd like to think that this will also serve as a reminder to those members of congress who may have lost or misplaced their spine, that as elected leaders they also shoulder the responsibility to ensure America confronts tough challenges and support the vision the American people overwhelmingly chose when we elected Barack Obama.
Our president is a transformational figure here in America and around the world. I've traveled abroad both during the campaign and since; and the phrase I've heard time and again from Europe to Latin America is, "Where's our Barack Obama?" His candidacy and election has sparked a global conversation among a new generation of leaders around the world who are themselves looking for new ways to approach many of the challenges we all share both domestically and internationally.
As a patriot, I'm always rooting for America. It's an honor to again be seen as a leader in confronting critical global issues like climate change, the economy, proliferation of nuclear weapons and defeating terrorism.