Commentary: Our President Did It!

By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.
President, National Congress of Black Women, Inc.
and Co-Chair, Black Women for Obama for Change

October 9, 2009

Our nation woke up to the exciting news that President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize! We congratulate him, and pledge to do all we can to help him succeed for the good of us all.

We've become accustomed to hearing from the naysayers and the sourgrapers on numerous domestic issues. It seems that some think he is so great that he should have resolved all the problems of the world already, despite the fact that no other President ever resolved all the problems they promised to resolve--not even after 4 or 8 year terms! He's been in office less than a year still working to undo some of the damage that has been done to our nation by his predecessors. He didn't even have time for the customary "honeymoon" other President's had! He had to hit the ground running just to prevent our nation's total collapse!

Now, can you imagine Americans cheering because the U.S. didn't get the Olympics--something that would have provided thousands of jobs for some--and having them see another nation getting the prize as a personal defeat to the President? I'd hardly recovered from the birthers, the deathers and all who preferred to defeat the President than to work for health care for all Americans!

Then came the President's honor of winning the Nobel Peace Prize because the world recognizes his great work and great promise. What do we hear? First, I heard too many reporters who are paid to read news--not think about the events they report-- questioning the President's qualifications to receive the Award! Next, I heard comments from a bunch of ungrateful Americans trying to make all Americans look stupid for never seeing the good our President we just elected is doing or has done. Those of us who worked to elect President Obama have no problem seeing the accomplishments and the promise the Nobel Prize Committee sees in our President, and we are grateful for the Award. We give thanks to the Nobel Prize Committee for honoring all of us with the Award. It inspires us to work with the President everyday to make the world better--not work against him.

This Award validates the effectiveness of this President's efforts to change the tenor and the tone of how the world sees us. It gives credence to how the world looks to us to see their own aspirations for peace and justice tied to the leadership and the promise of President Barack Obama. The mere fact that the American people elected him makes him special, and yes, unusual. That's a good thing. This is not something for which we have to apologize or to try to explain to the usual suspects who will never find anything good about what the President Obama does.

I pray that you will renew your efforts to serve your community to make it a better one. Let's do it as the President has often asked when he says, "Let's go and change the world. Let's do it one person at a time, one block at a time, one community at a time, one city at a time, one state at a time, one nation at a time--and ultimately, the world will be a better place because there will be peace and justice for all."