Here's the Huffing and Puffington Post:
President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.
The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Obama's name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.
Too early to award Obama? I'll say! He's done nothing do deserve it, let alone the presidency of the United States.
Well, it's been said before but this makes it official. The Nobel Peace prize is meaningless. It has ceased to have any worth. Because they now give there giant condom to idiots and murderers... Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, YASSER ARAFAT for crying out loud!
I'm waiting for someone to jump out and tell me I just got Punk'd! Hell, the NATION just got Punk'd!
Way to go Oslo, demonstrating once again just how irrelevant... how TIN are your prizes.
I agree, actually. It IS rather early to think about something like this. He HASN'T done much directly to have earned this.
ReplyDeleteIt is my suspicion that he (and by extension, the US) is being rewarded for being Not-Bush. Obama has done very little EXCEPT that he's established a different tone coming from the US. A more reasonable, adult diplomacy, rather than the Cowboy Diplomacy of the last eight years.
I believe there is a palpable sense globally that the US is truly changing to live up to our greatest ideals in a way that hasn't happened in decades. I suspect that Oslo is rewarding that feeling of positive things yet to come.
But I agree with you, at least in as much as I would rather they reward someone for what they have actually done rather than for a mere "tone."
I think this speaks to how much the world wants the US to live up to our ideals, so perhaps it's a good thing.
One man's opinion.
The Nobel Peace Prize has become the "Golden Globe" of international recognition. This is a personal victory for Obama since his main goal is to be popular.
ReplyDeleteIt's still disgusting. Wasn't he just in Denmark talking "I, Me, Mine"?
ReplyDeleteApparently, a reasonable, adult diplomacy means snubbing the Brits, leaving the Polish to twist in the wind, and offering concessions to the Russians with absolutely no apparent benefit. It means interfering with the Honduran ouster of its power-grabbing president by its Supreme Court and Congress, but having the initial instinct not to be seen as "meddling" in Iran's fraudulent elections. It means spending more time and effort getting the Olympics than it does meeting with your own general about the war in Afghanistan. And it means doing that which garners unbridled praise from America's enemies.
ReplyDeleteThis, we are told, is an indication of America living up to its greatest ideals.
I didn't know fecklessness was an ideal, much less one of ours.
Anyway, I think there's a distinct silver lining to this award: without any plausible claims of Obama having any actual accomplishments, the committee makes clear exactly who they are.
It's a clarifying moment, as when many in Hollywood defend a child rapist who's spent decades as a fugitive from the law.
Over at NRO, John J. Miller reports that this year's deadline for the award was February 1st, only ten days after Obama was inaugurated.
ReplyDeleteThe Corner links to Mickey Kaus, who argues that Obama would benefit by declining the award. He would, but I'd be surprised to that happen.
And Andrew McCarthy argues that the award is given by transnational progressives who see America as the world's biggest problem, and the award is thus "a symbolic statement of opposition to American exceptionalism, American might, American capitalism, American self-determinism, and American pursuit of America's interests in the world."
"That is why Obama could win it based on only ten days in office — merely by capturing the White House and the levers of power, he stands to do more for the Left's 'knock America off its pedestal' program than any figure in history."
To some the comment would surely seem outlandish, but I think it's much less delusional than the idea that the Nobel committee both understands and champions the greatest ideals of this country.
It is striking how opposition to this honor all use the same language and reasoning: many of you guys, the press releases from the conservative press and the spokesmen for the Taliban as well as al Queda... all in lock-step, thinking along the exact same lines.
ReplyDeleteHow can that be?
I'm looking forward to P-BO receiving the Cy Young, Al and NL MVP, The Heisman, a BET Hip Hop award, a VMA, and being crowned Miss America.
ReplyDeleteThey should have at least waited until the third or fourth year of his term. All this does is undermine credibility. His and the Nobel committee's.
I don't see how this could POSSIBLY undermine Obama's credibility. He has done nothing to encourage this award, in fact, he seems uncomfortable even receiving it.
ReplyDeleteThat sort of thinking doesn't even make sense.
While I think waiting some time would have been appropriate I, for once, agree with Bill O'Reilly (!!): We should be proud of our president winning this award - I believe it is a referendum on our best US ideals and, as such, is a high complement, even if somewhat premature.
P-BO did not have to accept the award, had he not it would have helped his credibility. How P-BO seems is really not the issue. What he does is the issue. He got the award for how he seems, which seems to be what the controversy is all about.
ReplyDeleteThis award is like giving the Cubs or the Royals next years World Series trophy...now. Not saying P-BO won't ever deserve the prize, just that it makes all involved look foolish to do it now.
ReplyDelete