Kanye West couldn’t have known that when he disgraced himself by grabbing the mike from 18 year old Taylor Swift and declaring the award should have been given to Beyonce, that his boorish behavior would be come the example to which many would refer as not the etiquette to copy in reacting to a person receiving an award. But for all but a few republicans and right wingers Kanye West  turned  out to be their role model.

Hating Obama makes strange bedfellows. Amazingly Russ Limbaugh admitted as much, acknowledging that he and the Taliband are in agreement on denouncing the President in having received the Nobel Piece Prize. Predictably, Limbaugh and the Taliband were joined by fellow Obama haters, Glen Beck, Mark Levin, and Sean Hannity

Glen Beck devoted his rant to insisting that Obama shouldn’t accept the award and adding that Obama’s ego wouldn’t allow him to turn it down. Levin’s angle was “What exactly has Obama done to win this award? He puts America down and apologizes for us in other countries, and we are supposed to be proud that he received this award?” 

Hannity’s bitterness focused on the fact that the President was nominated only twelve after being in office. A comment on his blog sums it up nicely. “Bitter today, aren't we? I know. Having the President Of The United States get honored is a terrible thing for the country -- just like trying to get the most prestigious athletic competition was. Have a nice day anyway.”

It’s becoming obvious that institutional haters like Limbaugh, Beck, Levin, and Hannity  are just playing games seeing who can craft the most obnoxious objections to the President. Joining in that effort is silly Michael Steele. 

Michael Steele is the Republican National Committee’s Clarence Thomas. He demonstrated he knows what’s expected of him and continues to marginalize himself as in not to be taken seriously. He dutifully came out with a non-congratulatory statement predictably political and totally classless. “The real question Americans are asking is what has President Obama Actually accomplished? It is unfortunate that the president’s star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights.”    

The derision was not confined to the afore mentioned Obama haters. There were other haters who were forced to the surface by this award. “ He’s got words spoken from a teleprompter in a Muslim country and nothing else.” The sarcastic words of Joe Scarborough as he spent his entire “Morning Joe” MSNBC show scoffing at the fact that the Nobel Committee voted President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize. “It’s premature.” He’s only been in office nine month’s.” He hasn’t done anything.” These were some of the other comments made on the show reflecting more the naiveté and limited thinking of the commentators than the validity of their comments.

In a display of anti-Obamaism rivaling the applause and jubilation that erupted with the announcement that the United States lost its Olympic bid, one after another of the guest on the Scarborough show chimed in with their belittling comments echoing the recent SL parody. “What has the president done? Nottin”.

“We’ve reached a point where if Republicans say green, Democrats will say brown,” said one observer, “It’s juvenile behavior.”

This is the official announcement of the Nobel Committee:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

The fact is Obama has done some quite remarkable things. Becoming the first black President of the United States remains one of the most amazing political achievements of the last 200 years. That alone has had a transformational impact on a number of fronts. However, it was his policy statements to the world that America no longer will be the unilateral bully in the world and will seek to forge alliances based on mutual interest and respect that has restored admiration for the United States around the world. His groundbreaking speech to a Muslim audience in a Muslim country was another major accomplishment.

According to the Telegraph. Co.Uk, The popular view of American leaders has been transformed in the last 12 months. In Germany, Mr. Obama enjoys an approval rating of 92 per cent, compared with only 12 per cent for Mr. Bush. In Britain, 82 per cent approve of Mr Obama, while only 17 per cent felt the same about his predecessor.

"We see a remarkable shift in trans-Atlantic opinion from the previous administration," said Craig Kennedy, the president of the German Marshall Fund, which conducted the study. "With American leadership enjoying unprecedented modern popularity, partners on both sides of the Atlantic have an immense opportunity to co-operate on a range of economic and security issues."

The poll was conducted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a nonpartisan policy institution that promotes trans-Atlantic cooperation, and the Compagnia di San Paolo, a research center in Turin, Italy.

The German Marshall Fund said in a press release that in eight years of conducting the survey, which includes dozens of polls, no other data changed as dramatically as the European support for U.S. policies between 2008 and 2009. 

There are a whole host of right-wingers still trying to figure out how Obama became president of the United States and are caught in a strange world of finding themselves rooting against their own country. This latest award of the Nobel Peace Prize coming on the heels of the Olympic rejection has the likes of Limbaugh stumbling all over themselves rhetorically and ending up asserting the most ridiculous posture preferring  the good old days when the rest of the world hated America. 

While some may say these are just words that await real accomplishments, there is something to be said for reducing the terrorist recruitment base around the  world. Winning hearts and minds are part of the over all equation and an essential war that must be won to tamp down that escalating hate that George Bush unleashed .

The  “sour grapes” comments were to be expected from republicans and the likes of Russ Limbaugh. More curious were the observations by responsible reporters that exposed a level of critical scrutiny that seems to be reserved for the first African American President.