This morning, I woke up to the surprising news of President Barack Obama winning the Nobel Prize in peace. My first reaction was, “the Clintons must be really pissed off.” After all, as Obama said correctly and objectively, he has NOT done much to be deserving of a Nobel prize in peace, if we believe that the prize recognizes significant accomplishment in bringing peace to humanity. - Unless we count the fact that his election has brought some peace to the minds of many frustrated die-hard Democrats who agonized for 8 years straight during George W. Bush’s presidency.
Obama has lived too charmed and too easy of a life so far, according to many people, especially those who belong to the baby boomers’ generation, such as the Clintons. Michael has always had a pet peeve on the stereotypes of generations. “The baby boomers got everything without having to earn it, “ argues Michael, “whereas we Generation Xers have got the reputation of selfishness. See, the baby boomers experienced the post-war prosperity, had a wild time in the 60s defying authority, and when it was their turn to be the older authorities, the political climate had changed decisively to the more conservative. They were at the peak of their game during the booming 1990s, and never had to experience a big setback in the critical years of their career paths.” To a large extent, I agree with Michael. Therefore, I feel rather indignant that many baby boomers would complain about how the younger people did not earn their places, when they perhaps more than earned theirs. Besides, it looks like that the most productive years of us Generation Xers are going to coincide with a long recession!
Clearly, that was how the Clintons felt with Obama emerging as a presidential candidate, and especially so after he eventually was elected. Here is a freshman senator who has not been around the block, but he thought that he could run the country better than more experienced people. He went to Ivy League schools, but did not seem to get looks of resentment from those who take pride in being “unintellectual”, as the Clintons did; he was inexperienced in national politics, but did not seem to meet as much criticism as the Clintons did when they first came to Washington; he never seemed to have had one bay day in his life, and yet people believe in his ability to deal with adversity and uncertainty with equanimity. Life is surely beautiful for him, and why does he have such a charmed life? With Bill Clinton globe-trotting for the past 8 years championing various causes in the world while Obama just started to learn about national politics, why didn’t Bill Clinton get the Nobel prize instead?
It is usually Hillary Clinton, of the two Clintons, that has given the impression of carrying chips on the shoulder. For a while, she was unhappy to be regarded mainly as Bill Clinton’s wife, and frequently reminded people that she was her own person and had her own opinions. She was understandably annoyed when she was asked what her husband would think of an issue, but her icy response that she could only speak on what she thought perhaps has reduced people’s confidence in her as opposed to enhance it. Bill Clinton, having been in the position of a “wonder boy” for years, has finally found himself in the honorable but nonetheless uncomfortable chair of “elderly statesman”, and is giving the impression that he really felt that he got the short end of the stick, by comparison to – Barack Obama. How can this young guy get everything so easily?
I have learned that we should never assume we know how easy or difficult others’ lives have been, unless we know them intimately. True – Obama did not have to fight in the trenches of a bloody war; he did not have to serve his many decades in the senate before winning the presidency; his family seems picture perfect; and his health seems to be in great condition. So life is just too beautiful for him, right? People say that because they ignore the following facts - that he was raised mostly by his mother and grandmother, that he met with racial prejudice as a black man; that his run for the US congress was an utter failure; and that there were probably heartaches and headaches in his life that felt just as painful to him as the ones we have encountered in our own lives.
The bottom line is that the Clintons’ lives were perhaps even more charmed than Barack Obama’s. But they felt that they deserve more than what they have, when they can’t have more or when others are not willing to give them more. Barack Obama, on the other hand, believes that he can do more and be more than what he is, and therefore he becomes more than what he is.
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