Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize

[Quazar]

Maybe they did this to say a big F-you to Bush? No one could have done more to destroy US relationships around the world.

[BBDSP]

I like Obama and I still have hopes of him turning out to be a great or at least very good president. There is no way he deserves a Nobel Prize at this moment.

I don't care if this was meant as a big f.u. to GWB--you don't give the NP to one person to punish someone else.

The biggest problem I have, though, is the inevitable backlash. Even if Obama had received the award after racking up a score of major accomplishments, there'd be backlash. After racking up none, well...let's just say I'm not even looking at the news today.

Don't get me wrong, I love him and I still have high hopes for him, it's just that you don't give someone an NP for what you hope he's going to do.

[kingcap72]

I didn't even know Obama was up for the Nobel Prize. It's a big honor to have a sitting president win it. But why would you give a president presiding over two wars a peace prize?

But, on the flip side, the GOP will flip out and that's a plus.

[Grimmlok]

it was definitely a shot at bush

[greysfang]

Originally Posted by Grimmlok

a shot at bush

tee hee! You said bush.

[Kathie_Moffett]

If I were a conspiracy theorist I'd say those Norweegies were actually trying to make life more difficult for Obama.

I can't believe they thought this was a great idea. Could they be THAT naive and/or arrogant? Weird.

[celeb_2006]

Originally Posted by Grimmlok

it was definitely a shot at bush

That's one way of looking at it, but still, with no backbone on afghanistan (meaning we'll be there for another decade, hardly a peaceful gesture), still in iraq, unable to deal with iran/palestine issue, etc. etc., really a dumb thing to do.

[Deutsche]

Who's next ? Angelina Jolie ?

[HWBL]

Source: YahooNews.com

Obama's Nobel: The Last Thing He Needs

By NANCY GIBBS Nancy Gibbs – 1 hr 3 mins ago

The last thing Barack Obama needed at this moment in his presidency and
our politics is a prize for a promise.

Inspirational words have brought him a long way - including to the night in
Grant Park less than a year ago when he asked that we "join in the work of
remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred
and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by
calloused hand." (See pictures of Obama in Grant Park.)

By now there are surely more callouses on his lips than his hands. He, like
every new president, has reckoned with both the power and the danger of
words, dangers that are especially great for one who wields them as skillfully
as he. A promise beautifully made raises hopes especially high: we will revive
the economy while we rein in our spending; we will make health care simpler,
safer, cheaper, fairer. We will rid the earth of its most lethal weapons. We
will turn green and clean. We will all just get along. (See pictures of eight
months of Obama's diplomacy.)

So when reality bites, it chomps down hard. The Nobel committee cited "his
extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation
between peoples." His critics fault some of those efforts: those who favor a
missile shield for Poland or a troop surge in Afghanistan or a harder line on
Iran. But even his fans know that none of the dreams have yet come true,
and a prize for even dreaming them can feed the illusion that they have.
(See the Top 10 Obama Backlash Moments)

Maybe the prize will give him more power, new muscles to haul unruly nations
in line. But peacemaking is more about ingenuity than inspiration, about
reading other nations' selfish interests and cynically, strategically exploiting
them for the common good. Will it help if fewer countries come to the table
hating us? To a point. But it's a starting point, not an end in itself.

At this moment many Americans are longing for a president who is more bully,
less pulpit. The president who leased his immense inaugural good will to the
hungry appropriators writing the stimulus bill, who has not stopped
negotiating health care reform except to say what is non-negotiable, whose
solicitude for the wheelers and dealers who drove the financial system into a
ditch leaves the rest of us wondering who has our back, has always shown
great promise, said the right things, affirmed every time he opens his mouth
that he understands the fears we face and the hopes we hold. But he
presides over a capital whose day-to-day functioning has become
part-travesty, part-tragedy, wasteful, blind, vain, petty, where even the
best intentioned reformers measure their progress with teaspoons. There
comes a time when a President needs to take a real risk - and putting his
prestige on the line to win the Olympics for his home town does not remotely
count.

Compare this to Greg Mortenson, nominated for the prize by some members
of Congress, who the bookies gave 20-to-1 odds of winning. Son of a
missionary, a former army Medic and mountaineer, he has made it his mission
to build schools for girls in places where opium dealers and tribal warlords kill
people for trying. His Central Asia Institute has built more than 130 schools in
Afghanistan and Pakistan - a mission which has, along the way, inspired
millions of people to view the protection and education of girls as a key to
peace and prosperity and progress.(See an interactive guide to Obama's first
100 days.)

Sometimes the words come first. Sometimes, it's better to let actions speak
for themselves.

[bychance]

Originally Posted by witchcurlgirl

I guess we can now include the NYTimes and WaPo in the freeper category. Because they seem to think there was a mistake here.

I'm not talking about valid criticism. I'm talking about sheer insanity.

[witchcurlgirl]

^ In this case all the criticism is valid, and seems to all be based on the fact that it was undeserved. It's on the right, the left, the middle, and in most of the foreign press as well.

Mr. Witch remembered to put the toilet seat down this morning. I'm nominating him for next year's peace prize, because that certainly diverted a fight.

[witchcurlgirl]

DNC: If you laugh at Obama’s Nobel, you side with terrorists

The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists - the Taliban and Hamas this morning - in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,” DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse told POLITICO. “Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize - an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride - unless of course you are the Republican Party.

DNC official: GOP siding with terrorists - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com


Did Woodhouse miss a memo? Isn’t the White House about to argue that the Taliban pose no threat to us? And aren't we supposed to stop using the word terrorists anyway?

And sorry, but I think the laughter and mockery on this prize has been one of the few truly 'bi-partisan' agreements we've had here in the US for a looooong time.

[bychance]

OK, with some thinking and reading both points of views, I think he does deserve it. Though I rather it have been given it to him at the end of his term.

I'm basing this on:

• The actual criteria for Novel Prize eligibility.

• The unprecedented historical significance of a sitting head of state of a nuclear superpower proposing/adopting nuclear disarmament to IR political discourse and practice.

[cmmdee]

Guys, I am sitting here thinking about this long and hard and it's so obvious to me... Sarah Palin got ROBBED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bychance]

For anyone who wants to keep track of Obama's promises (kept, no action, stalled, compromised on, etc) and his accomplishments this site is helpful. Please do so before you say OMG HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING YET!

PolitiFact | The Obameter: Tracking Barack Obama's Campaign Promises

Originally Posted by Deutsche

Who's next ? Angelina Jolie ?

Why not? Shouldn't anyone who does humanitarian work be considered for nomination?