If Not Obama, Who?

Chris Good asks:

If you think Obama's Nobel Prize was a bit of a reach, who do you think should have gotten it? And if you think he deserved it, who, in your mind, was second?

I'll take a different tack: I'm happy Obama got it, but it is quite obvious who I would have picked in his stead: Neda, the murdered Iranian who died defending her own freedom and democracy. If not Neda, then Mousavi and Karroubi. Obama has set the stage for peace, and changed the global dynamic. But these people are heroes, displaying the courage of their convictions, putting their lives on the line for freedom.

Can you imagine how much more impact it would have had to have given them this prize? How big a blow it would have delivered to those vile torturers and thugs, Ahmadinejad and Khamenei? Oh, well. Maybe they missed the deadline for nominations. But history will remember them. I hope it one day remembers Obama for similar courage.