The Nobel, the GOP and the big picture

I must say that I was as shocked as anyone that Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It isn’t for me to second guess the Nobel Committee’s judgment here but my gut tells me that more than anything else, this decision was motivated by a desire to give the Bush Administration and their unilateralist ilk a gigantic middle finger. And judging by the collective wingnut apoplexy in response to the announcement, I think my gut may have a valid point.

Coupled with the joy many conservatives expressed when Chicago’s Olympic bid failed, an effort Obama was heavily invested in, I get the sense that one of the two major parties in this nation has lost its collective mind. I remember not so long ago when opposition to Bush Administration policies was blithely dismissed as Bush-hating drivel of a bunch of seditious liberal cranks. Now, the same crowd cheers when the US gets booted in the first round of Olympic selection because that would somehow translate into a snub of Obama. Bush could play fighter pilot-for-a-day so as to create the perfect “Mission Accomplished” photo-op and the ever so serious conservatives swooned. Obama wins the Nobel Prize and they fall over themselves in an effort to cast the award as trivial. In short, the Republican Party has decided that opposition to Obama is its most important platform plank, even when that goal strays into anti-American territory. Or to put it another way, I am beginning to question just how loyal the Loyal Opposition is and so is the Democrat National Committee. Their response, via HuffPo, is about as terse and confrontational as anything I can recall coming from the DNC:

"The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists -- the Taliban and Hamas this morning -- in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize," wrote DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse. "Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize -- an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride -- unless of course you are the Republican Party. The 2009 version of the Republican Party has no boundaries, has no shame and has proved that they will put politics above patriotism at every turn. It's no wonder only 20 percent of Americans admit to being Republicans anymore - it's an embarrassing label to claim."

When Republicans are finding common cause with the Taliban, something has gone seriously, seriously wrong within the GOP. These days, the Party ain’t so Grand.