When I first heard Chicago had been passed over for the Olympics, my first thought was, “So? It’s Chicago.” No offense intended to my good readers from the Windy City, but seriously, so what? I have no particular interest in the Olympics. Sure, I’d love to have them come to Houston and I might pack up the car and head out for a weekend to watch the opening ceremonies if it had been say, San Antonio or Austin or Dallas – but never in my right mind would I humor the idea of packing a duffel, grabbing a one way ticket to O’Hare, and then dropping off the map for a few weeks because of something as trivial as the Olympics. Honestly, I’d be more likely to ship off to Havana than Chicago. It’s closer, easier to get to, and would have been a more interesting place to visit. I wasn’t sad. I wasn’t glad. It was just one of those things that, in the grand scheme of things, really had absolutely no impact on my life whatsoever.

And when I first read the headline, “President Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize,” I smirked, clicked the link and braced myself for a delightful bit of satire to start the day with. Alas, no. The link sent my browser off to a familiar news site. The news was real and my initial reaction was a snarky, incredulous bafflement.

Confused as I am about Obama taking two days off to fly off to Copenhagen to attend what amounts to little more than a committee hearing, and puzzled as I am by the Norwegian Parliament’s decision to hand the Nobel Prize to a sitting President who, within a year of his Presidency, is already being ridiculed by SNL as being completely unable to get anything done, I’m far more put off by the character of the loud, public, and vile reaction to them.

When critics of the President talk about these events, they do so with sadistic glee.

They speak of the 2016 Olympics as if we were reenacting a scene from 1930s Germany, only this time the Germans voted against Hitler’s demand for dictatorship. They rejoice as if the IOC shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!” as they voted against Chicago. To hear it from the far right, one would almost imagine that Chicago losing their Olympic bid was a red letter day. It is a crack in his carefully crafted facade; a sign that the great illusion created by his cult of personality was fading. It’s a sign that the international community doesn’t take him seriously and that he can’t represent America’s interests around the globe. This 24 hour trip and this one vote by the IOC – a body that doesn’t even represent a government or have any real authority – means his critics are right: he’s ineffectual, everyone knows it, Iran is going to get the bomb, and Russia is going to help them get it.

Seriously?

Then, a week later, Obama gets the Nobel Peace Prize for – as far as we can tell – promises that haven’t even begun to materialize yet and the same people go completely insane again. The new craze in conservative blog posts seems to be making up ridiculous jokes about what someone didn’t do to win some really prestigious award while being very careful to remind everyone that the Nobel Peace Prize isn’t really that prestigious anyway. Apparently, and this is something I was completely unaware of prior to last week, the Nobel Peace Prize is a disgraceful thing that no one ever wants to be awarded because Arafat was given one and Bush wasn’t. I generally approve of the Bush administration, but arguing that he should have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize is patently absurd. It almost seems like Americans are outraged that their President has received an award for trying to bring peace to the world.

Really?

Complaining about the President getting the Nobel Prize is like complaining about the teacher’s pet being given extra time on her book report when you know you’re getting a D- on the thing you turned in on time. Boo freekin’ who.

I’m not saying I understand the choice. Believe me, I could use a long drag of whatever the hell they were smoking when they made that call, but I’m not angry about it. I’m not going to ridicule my President for winning an award and I’m not going to ridicule him for the actions of others. Now, if he were to suddenly award himself the Medal of Freedom or something, I’d point and laugh at the narcissism of it, but that’s not what’s going on here.

The real question that all of this dredges up makes me disappointed just having to ask it. America, where are your priorities? The economy is in shambles. The President flies out of town for a few days, and your response is to gloat over his failure? We’re debating not one but two massive tax hikes in the Senate. An award given by the Norwegian Parliament, of all things, is what has us all up in arms. We’re in the middle of not one, but two wars, the President hasn’t sat down with the generals in months, and this is what we’re talking about during White House briefings?

Where are your priorities, America?

This isn’t just little stuff. This, honestly, is such a tiny thing that it should be well beneath our notice. We aren’t arguing legislation here, we’re name calling. We aren’t talking about character issues or foreign policy. This isn’t scandal most juicy. This isn’t a debate. There’s nothing at stake. There is, in short, nothing worth mentioning.

But here we are. This is what we choose to spend our time with. This is how we conduct ourselves. This is how we behave. These are the things that are important to us and occupy our time.

The Senate Finance Committee passed the Baucus version of the health care reform bill today after Olympia Snowe broke with her fellow Republicans to pass the tie-breaking vote.

I wonder if she’ll get handed a political Darwin Award for it.