I will leave it to readers to reference the source of this quotation. Hint: It was spoken by a world-famous leader when he got a cool reception in his old home town. “A prophet is not without honor,” he said, “save in his own land.”

Barack Obama can relate. The President has made great progress in repairing America’s international reputation by engaging in much-needed diplomacy with Russia, China and the Arab/Muslim world only to be dismissed as a do-nothing, dud of a president by his fellow countrymen.

And the grump in me kind of wants to join their chorus.

After all, since taking office Obama has failed to accomplish any of the tangible objectives for which he was elected; he has yet to ratify meaningful health-care reform, close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility or deliver on his promise to return transparency to Washington.

Instead, health-care reform has succumbed to Congressional bickering that is driven more by ego than ideology. Obama has renewed key aspects of Bush’s Patriot Act that permit the U.S. government to detain suspected terrorists without bringing them to trial. And many lobby groups are still receiving the behind-closed-doors treatment they enjoyed during the last presidency.

Most importantly, the President has continued U.S. engagement in both of George W. Bush’s wars. He seems to have an exit strategy for one of them: Iraq. The other, Afghanistan, is deteriorating quickly without an end in sight.

So when it was announced last week that Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, many a “WTF” was Twittered.

Even Obama stated: “I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize.”

He is wrong.

Forget that the majority of the world is inspired by his leadership and feels a renewed sense of hope in the diplomatic process; that Obama appeals to the Muslim world both because of his personal history and because of the honesty and accountability of his politics; that Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar announced last month, “We [the Taliban] want to play our role in peace and stability of the region.”

Just look at the tremendous leap toward peace Obama made last week in a speech he gave at a fundraiser in Washington.

He vowed to end the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell military policy, explaining, “We cannot afford to cut from our ranks people with the critical skills we need to fight any more than we can afford — for our military's integrity — to force those willing to do so into careers encumbered and compromised by having to live a lie.”

He went on to announce that he has called on Congress to pass the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act, which will give gay couples the same legal rights and benefits as straight couples, promising, “You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.”

He contextualized the fight for gay rights within the struggle for civil rights. In doing so, he wove his own narrative into a larger one that is not singularly about African Americans or about homosexuals, but rather about the surpassing values of fairness and human dignity. While these are not new ideas, they carry new significance when uttered by the leader of the Free World.

However, do the critics have a point when they say that even if Obama eventually delivers what he has promised, the Nobel Peace Prize is premature?

Not really.

As the Nobel committee said clearly, “We are not awarding the prize for what may happen in the future, but for what [Obama] has done in the previous year.”

That list includes getting the first black man elected as president — a game-changer of epic proportions.

It would be one thing if those accusing Obama of inaction had the public’s best interests in mind. More often than not, though, Obama’s detractors seem to do it out of obligation or habit, sounding suspiciously happy to have found something to be pessimistic about.

And, of course, the Republican Coalition Against Progress (triple-headed by Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck) is in it merely for the mischief.

It is reasonable to want to see results, but we cannot reasonably expect Obama quality at Bush speed. If only there were a Nobel Prize for patience.

Cody Gault is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He may be reached at cgault@cornellsun.com. Stakes Is High appears alternate Fridays this semester.