When Sally Field received her second Academy Award for Best Actress, she said, “You like me, right now, you like me!”
The rest of the world wants to like the United States. It was difficult for many people around the world to like the country that was led by George W. Bush. He refused to adopt the Kyoto Protocols. He refused to negotiate with Iran or North Korea. He used the 9/11 attack as an excuse to invade Iraq, which was not responsible for that attack. Americans ridiculed France for refusing to join the unjust invasion of Iraq. In 2004, Americans even re-elected Bush. Bush's bad economic policies caused a recession in the United States, and the bad American economy harmed other economies around the world.
But, in 2008, the Americans elected Barack Obama as their new president. This proved to the rest of the world that Americans had awakened to the mistakes of Bush, and they had overcome the old racial prejudices.
Barack Obama displayed his wisdom and good judgment to Germany and France in 2008. Obama's speech in Berlin attracted an audience of 200,000 people. As the new President, Obama offered reconciliation to Iranian TV. He also gave a great speech in Egypt. The world was seeing the end of Bush's cowboy manners, and a return to a more enlightened foreign policy.
On this basis, the Nobel committee awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama. Although Obama has not yet achieved great success in international relations, the committee—and the world—have great expectations for him.
