Occasionally, a president has an opportunity to do or say something especially dramatic and symbolically significant. Ronald Reagan grasped such an opportunity in 1987 when he said in Berlin, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!" Lyndon Johnson missed such an opportunity in 1966 when Charles De Gaulle demanded that U. S. troops leave French soil. Johnson could have responded by sending De Gaulle a schedule, cemetery by cemetery, for the removal of U.S. servicemen buried in French soil who died in World Wars I and II.
Barack Obama now has such an opportunity. He could tell the Nobel Committee: "I am profoundly honored that you chose me to receive the 2009 Peace Prize, but I respectfully decline to accept it. Choosing me so early in my term as president suggests that you are inappropriately trying to influence my actions. Also, it diminishes the prestige of those who did not receive the prize until after their accomplishments that furthered world peace. I hope that some day I may be counted among those."
Rejecting the prize in this manner could only increase his prestige and would help to change the impression of self-centeredness he projects.
Warren Herron
Marietta
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I suggest that you start your own peace prize and then award it to whoever you wish, who can then decide whether or not to accept your award. Otherwise, who cares what you think of the Nobel Committee and their decision to award their prize to President Obama.