I supported Barack Obama's bid to be President, but I have to say I am baffled as to why he has been awrded the Nobel Peace Prize. To which country or region did he bring peace in the nine days between his inauguration and the close of nominations for the prize on 1 February?
I am afraid this award devalues the prize itself. I hope that in four years time President Obama has shown himself worthy of receiving the world's first anticipatory award!
93 comments:
Um, yep, I was wondering the same!
Tend to agree.. even, like you, as a fan.
Seems a bit empty, really.
Especially on the day he declares war on the moon ;))
What a joke. According to the BBC website he seems to have won the prize for generally being wonderful. He certainly didn't have time to have actually done anything worthwhile,
It gets better; that is to say, worse! The strict deadline for nominations to be made to the Nobel Prize committee is February 1st.
Barack Obama was inagurated as president on January 20th.
The prosecution rests its case.
Will Dave get the next one?
On the basis of the speech he won't be getting one for literature. But then again if they can give the Messiah one, why not?
The way things are going, the Nobel Peace prize will soon have all the status of "World Statesman of the Year"!
Ironically, it was the very short space of time between the inauguration and the closing of nominations that made Obama's nomination inevitable. Those few weeks can now be seen to represent the height of the World media's infatuation with the Obama image machine.
Tuh, that'll teach me to read your post thoroughly before offering my words of (repetitive) wisdom. Delete/ignore both, if possible.
Bollocks, Iain. It is impossible to devalue the Nobel Peace Prize.
Exactly.
As I've said here, Obama's election campaign won the prize.
The committee have awarded the prize based on what he said he hoped to do during his election campaign, rather than anything he's actually done in the 5 minutes he's been in office.
_
come on Iain
Hand of peace to Iran -- regardless of their reaction
and an attempt to get real with Israel's racist bullying
also massive cuts on nukes and a realisation that eventually the one in a hundred or a thousand year event will happen, and no events will happen after that
Who gives a shit any more? After the Gore was given it, what more can be said. The West hating socialists are in just about every part of the public life. Normal people are resigned to the fact that we can't stop them giving themselves medals and awards, and neither can we alone fight against their tirade of misinformation and deceit. So, let the miscreants have their tea parties, and we'll carry on with our own lives. Few of us will actually come into contact with this kind of infestation, thank goodness. But if I was to be in the presence of such eminent personages, I'm afraid my language would reflect my opinion of them both individually and collectively.
It seems to me he's been rewarded for
(a) Being the first black president of the USA
(b) Not being George W Bush
(c) Being charismatic
(d) Spouting a lot of empty rhetoric, but achieving nothing
This could be sycophancy and political correctness carried to their logical, ridiculous conclusion.
well, they did give it to Henry Kissinger...
"I am afraid this award devalues the prize itself."
Pretty sure awarding it to Jimmy Carter and Yasser Arafat did that...
I agree with you Iain. This award is a farce and a sham. Obama must be embarrassed by this.
"Obama must be embarrassed by this."
I'm not sure it's possible for a Chicago career politician with a massive case of narcissistic personality disorder to be embarassed...
All that walking on the water that his supporters imagined he did must have had something to do with it.
Surely Nobel's aim was to promote peace, not to simply reward those who made peace happen? And it's so difficult to get peace, an award for trying - for opening out to Muslims (rather than launching a 'crusade' against them), for working with the UN, for multi lateral negotiaions... surely encouraging these activites is exactly what the Nobel committee should be doing, especially against the dismal background of a Bush presidency?
I hear the Americans have bombed the moon today. So much for peace.
Well after Brown was awarded the title of World Statesman of the Year what were they going to give Obama?
I think the only Peace is "taking the Peace" (Replace for relevant swear word).
What a ridiculous winner of the Noble peace prize.
Isn't this a clear case of inverse racism.
"So Where Has Obama Brought Peace To?"
Have you forgotten the peace talks between Henry Louis Gates and the police officer already?
Possibly it was the hope... of change... towards a notion of... desire for peace that some feel he might yet... er... fit in to his busy talking (but not quite achieving, as such) schedule.
I await mine for Chemistry soon. But first, pass me the Sodium, Bunsen.
What's that, I'll need to do my "O' levels with no practical?
No matter... just lower the standards even further!
Funny old world, eh?
"Bollocks, Iain. It is impossible to devalue the Nobel Peace Prize."
Indeed. It has been worthless for years.
Didn't ElBaradei win it a few years back as well.
The Nobel Committee do award prizes for an 'individuals efforts to promote peace at critical moments'.
Don't necessaily have to have 'acheived' anything.
But yes, I agree, I don't quite see why. Though Nate at 538.com had some ok reasons.
I'm sure the Anointed One was not feeling very peaceful when he was woken up early to be told he had won a peace prize.
He probably uttered the immortal words of "WTF!".
It annoys me when people are not aware of history, he brought peace to Obama Beach...
The Nobel Peace prize was given to Mandela ( the ex-terrorist and ANC has fudged its non-peaceful intentions then) and Arafat ( another ex-terrorist who demanded the whole lot of the land called Israel). Think of these two with fellow winners and really deserving promoters of peace- Mother Teresa and Dalai Lama.
At least it was not given to Blair, the future EU president and property collector extraordinaire or to the instigator of UK boom and bust and the world saviour, Gordo.
Perhaps given to Obama to prevent him from any foray in Iran or supporting Israel in their adventure into Iran. If he accepts , which he will, it is difficult to do what is necessary in Afghanistan, more troops and resolute fight against talibans as he has to live up to the expectation as Nobel Peace Prize winner.These peacenik foundations are hideously PC and left-wing deluded bunch. This prize is coming after the award of Nobel prizes to scientists who have carried out really ground-breaking research work in fibre optics communication, work leading to development of new classes of antibiotics to severe and fatal diseases ( Cambridge University's Molecular Biology Lab's researcher shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry)
How can it be any more devalued when they awarded it to Jimmy "I hate Jews & love Hamas" Carter and Yassar Arafat.
Clearly the reasons he won the award are that 1. he is not Bush 2. he is black.
By starting his Presidency focussing on diplomacy in dealing with conflict between nations. He has offered a hand of friendship to Iran, is negotiating with Burma and North Korea, has agreed a massive reduction in nuclear weapons with Russia, introduced better relations with other states which the previous administration had isolated. He has given us all hope and world leaders are more optimistic regarding the US.
Wonderful decision....Jane
I'm not an Obama hater, but I have to say he has an worrying ability to remind me of Tony Blair. Empty, meaningless rhetoric, ridiculously high expectations that can never be met, too scared of polls to push through reform.
Perhaps I'm being unfair, but surely even the biggest Obama admirers can't say he deserved it more than Morgan Tsvangarai?
@ Norman
The Dali Lama won it did he? What's he ever achieved? Didn't repatriate his people did he? What a prat.
Whilst we're at it:
2007 - Al Gore did't actually stop climate change did he? I mean, it's still happening.
2005 - MOHAMED ELBARADEI didn't stop nuclear war, 'cause like, we could still have one, no?
2001 - Kofi Annan and the UN are just a bit useless aren't they?
1999 - Doctors Without Borders? Wasters, people still have AIDS don't they? Hardly cured all the worlds ills.
I don't think we should reward anyone for effort, I mean like, how hard can peace be? Instead I reckon there should be a prize for sitting by my computer and moaning rather than wasting my time actually trying to achieve anything.
Ah wait, there is.
Iain,
Agree totally. Perhaps it was for bringing an end to the mayhem in Afghanistan. Oh, hang on.....
The Nobel Peace Prize now has the same status as
EU Commission Democrat of Year
West Ham Golden Boot Winner
Labour Party Blogger of year
Iain, I think this is slightly unfair. Clearly if he stuffed up and let people down after the nomination process closed, they would not have picked him.
He has shaken things up in the Middle East and shown he is not willing to be Israel's patsy.
He has 'kicked butt' in terms of wanting to reduce rather than increase nuclear weapons stocks.
He has decided against the missile defence shield on Russia's border, preferring to prioritise Iran as a threat instead.
He has shown that he is willing to face up to climate change, rather than ignore the threat it would pose to world peace through huge migration and wars for water and resources.
Of course, one can reward the people who have quietly devoted their whole lives to peace.
But one can also reward leaders who choose the 'road less travelled' and don't choose the soft option of capitulation.
As Margaret Thatcher herself once said, you don't achieve anything by saying "Brothers I believe in consensus.."
Sometimes being willing to swim against the tide and not choose the easy option is all it takes, and to decide not to be one of the 'good men doing nothing'..
Obama didn't apply for it, so you can hardly blame him for this - though some of the more reality-challenged posters here seem to want to.
you might have a point Iain. But the Taliban have condemned it - thats good enough reason itself.!
@NORMAN - how can you describe Mandela as a former terrorist? if you were denied your basic human rights i suspect you too would take up arms!
He is Barack Hussein Obama, what bloody more do you want?
Gorgon Brown must be pissed though, he personally saved the world and got jack.
So can I win a Nobel prize for Physics on the basis I might invent warp drive?
I think Britney Spears should have won!
But Gordon Brown saved the world, he deserves a Nobel prize too!!!!!
@Anonymous, October 09, 2009 3:53 PM: "I hear the Americans have bombed the moon today. So much for peace."
I suppose that they were aiming at Afghanistan.
It's ridiculous, but to give Obama his due, he clearly thinks it's ridiculous as well, and he more or less said so in his press conference. It does devalue the prize.
it is proof, i proof were needed, that satire DIDN'T die when they gave it to Killinger
Mandy will be going for the prize next year - for stopping Gordon hurling mobile phones at his secretaries heads.
From tiny acorns,grow the mighty oak.
Talking,and listening.
Peace prize? a prize for peace.
EVERYTHING has 'a first step'.
If he can GET PEOPLE TALKING, by listening he deserves MORE than one!
'and forgive us our tresspasses, as we forgive them that tresspass against us.Deliver us from evil.
Just words...make of them what you will,whether you believe them or not says more about you and your character.
All we are saying is give peace a chance...John Lennon...back in the day.
The fact that Menachem Begen won the award, the founder of the most vicious, bloodthirsty terrorist organisation in the history of the Middle East, a man who co-ordinated the bombing of the King David Hotel which slaughtered nearly 100 people in the name of establishing a country for Jews & Jews only can win the Nobel Peace Prize 30 years ago tells you all you need to know about it
The Nobel Committee said he won it for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples".
Iain, still ...after all this time...you just don't get it.
"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future".
"It is not what he has done, but who he is, that inspires hope according to the people who gave the award. And there is no question that hope and peace are closely related. One could even argue that it is not peace which leads to hope, but hope which leads to peace."
David Cameron> watch and learn.
I'm trying to enter that rather fetid place known as the mind of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee member. He/she (or should I say She/he) is, more likely than not, to subscribe to the extreme left wing view which would define President George W Bush as the personification of the warmonger and, by virtue of being the man who defeated him in last year's presidential election, Mr Obama automatically becomes the greatest peacemaker of the century.
I may be wrong of course.
I know he hasn't "brought peace" anywhere yet - although setting a timetable to close GITMO was a bold step. But his willingness to treat other countries as equals and turning away from the brutish arrogance that so many Americans feel should be their foreign policy is surely good for the rest of us.
Sure, it's given in anticipation more than anything, but his moves to use international organizations and diplomacy deserve to be praised.
Barack Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize for making a lot of people hate America a little less :)
I agree. He will probably do a darn sight more for peace than George Bush ever did, or ever could, but this is grossly premature. This is foolish of the Committee.
Its "peace for our time"....... again........... Have they not heard of Neville Chamberlain?
Should have had the integrity to decline the honour and the Swedes should hang their heads in shame.
Pete-s
It is far worse than that. His decisions have actually made wars more likely. It is very unlikely then that he will ever deserve the Prize.
In fact his actions have shown how foolish people like you, Iain, were to support him. He has behaved exactly as his detractors said he would, and not as his many centre-right supporters hoped. He has behaved as a socialist at home and a neophyte in foreign affairs, and screwed up both royally.
Sorry to hove to say "we told you so" ...
I suspect he's been given it to ensure he is just a tad more cautious about taking neocon advice and attacking or allowing Israel to attack Iran.
Further foolish actions by the US or Israel are currently the greatest threat to world peace.
Curiously, the neocon warmongers are the people who least realise this.
Let's hope the prize works its magic.
It's a misunderstanding..........
he was awarded an IgNobel award.
Either that, or the real Nobel Awards have been the value of corn-flakes give-aways.
Nominated after less than two weeks official activity, he did f@ck-all in that time to justify anything.
The word "fix" springs to mind. His signing of executive orders for air strike on civilian targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan on his first day in office should have ruled him out.
I wonder if The Illuminati of Iternational Finance will be able to buy him a second term as easily as they bought him this award.
He may just deserve to be a candidate to receive the honour, if his 1st action in office had been to immediately withdraw all the invaders America sent to Afghanistan.
As he is C-in-C of an invading army, how can anyone justify giving him a "Peace" prize?
OT so apologies, but Iain take a look at Ben Bradshaw's disgraceful tweet regarding the Camerons and the NHS.
Obama is a social construct.
I've long considered the prize to be politically-motivated. Perhaps money changing hands...
Now, I doubt many will take this prize seriously again.
Blair must be gutted, though. :)
Even the BBC seem a touch embarrassed by this award and they adore the Obamamessiah.
The Nobel Prize committee have behaved like love-struck teenagers. Next year it will be Cliff Richard.
Perhaps Obama was awarded the Peace Prize for the Predator attacks on targets in Pakistan this year. Almost as many as during the previous five Bush years
That's the right message to send islamist terrorists.
Could have been worse, it could have been given to Hilary C.
Bulls-eye Henry Gibson.
The peace prize, awarded by Norway, is I believe, only loosely related to the more prestigious (Swedish) prizes,these days.
Did Yasser Arafat win the Peace Prize also?
Ross: Have you forgotten the peace talks between Henry Louis Gates and the police officer already?
Even that doesn't count; it was after the nominations closed.
I can understand people feeling that one should have to have done something tangible and astounding in order to win a Nobel Peace Prize, but why is everyone so mad at Obama. He had nothing to do with the decision, direct your anger toward the committee that made the decision.
It's just like when Kris Allen won American Idol instead of Adam Lambert, everyone was so angry at poor Kris Allen, when all he did was accept a title that was given to him, what else could either one of them do?
The Peace prize is awarded by a Norwegian commitee, as opposed to the other prizes which are awarded by Swedish committees. It's always been like this.
In Nobel's time Sweden and Norway were united and Sweden looked after foreign policy and Norway domestic.
Nobel thought that Norway would be better to look after the Peace prize as there was less chance of them being influenced by outside lobbying in terms of the foreign interests.
It's quite clear that the award is mostly given to encourage peace-making rather than for peace already achieved. That's part of the brief.
I'm sure that Gordon Brown is deeply upset at being overlooked, given he saved the world.
Well, Chrystal, one possibility was for the Won to say, 'This is silly, I haven't earned it and I don't want it.' Not a big possibility, I grant you.
I think all right minded people knew that the Nobel Prize had been utterly corrupted - and thus rendered meaningless - when Al Gore "won" some version of it in 2007.
This is just confirmation of its meaninglessness, regardless of "category", as if that were needed.
The Nobel prize used to be apolitical. That's what gave the "Nobel" brand its mystique and authority. It had unchallenged prestige.
Now it's so politicised it's become a meaningless gong for goodthink worthies and unrigorous line-toers.
It's merely corrupt, and everyone knows that.
We urgently need a "new Nobel" because an overarching, transcendent measure and recognition of genuinely great works is still fundamentally necessary.
Obama, if he really is a what he says he is, should send his "prize" back.
My favourite reaction:
http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/10/obama_wins_the_nobel.php
" WTF...
My Lord. I wish I had cable, so I could watch Fox News flip the fuck out over this one. Rush is gonna be all-world today, Glenn Beck is gonna be all-universe..."
I think the Nobel Prize is an honor for the President, he was very gracious about accepting it.
"Iain, I think this is slightly unfair. Clearly if he stuffed up and let people down after the nomination process closed, they would not have picked him."
What do you mean, 'if'..?
Lol...with Al Gore getting the prize for his global warming fantasies the bar was firmly placed on the ground and therefore anything goes.
Next we will have McMental getting the Nobel prize for economics and we will truly know the world has been turned upside down.
Maybe the Nobel Committee has lost its marbles. This award is certainly premature, but hopefully it will be well deserved in a few years time.
But never forget they gave a prize to Al Gore for promoting the cause of Man-made Global Warming.
Daily the science behind the Man-made Global Warming assertion is crumbling and it is closer and closer to being seen as one of the greatest frauds ever wrought on the global community.
As it is not proven to be man-made and if it is happening at all, moderate Global Warming should be greeted with unmitigated joy because:
• it is not necessary to destroy the world’s economy to no purpose
• it would lead to a more benign and healthy climate for mankind
• any extra CO2 would increase the fertility and productivity of all plant life on the planet.
• it would provide a future of greater opportunity and prosperity for human development as has frequently been well proven in the past.
when Al Gore "won" some version of it in 2007.
Before that - how about the blood soaked Arafat ?
Obama, if he really is a what he says he is, should send his "prize" back.
Ha ha.
It feeds his already over the top ego, and would you give back a million dollar windfall ?
Anonymous @3:18 PM said...
come on Iain
Hand of peace to Iran -- regardless of their reaction
and an attempt to get real with Israel's racist bullying
also massive cuts on nukes and a realisation that eventually the one in a hundred or a thousand year event will happen, and no events will happen after that
"Anonymous @4:33 PM said...
By starting his Presidency focussing on diplomacy in dealing with conflict between nations. He has offered a hand of friendship to Iran, is negotiating with Burma and North Korea, has agreed a massive reduction in nuclear weapons with Russia, introduced better relations with other states which the previous administration had isolated. He has given us all hope and world leaders are more optimistic regarding the US."
So how much of this took place between his election win in Nov. and the deadline for nominations on Feb. 1st??
I am easy with this Nobel Prize as far as the award goes. But There is always the lingering suspicion about this Oslo cabal awarding this prematurely. They may be expecting that the Nobel winner would be tempering his intentions to send more of his uniformed men and women into Afghanistan ( The war there was lost the day Bush jnr turned his attention to Iraq)or to reign in Israel if and when Iran develops its atomic blast. I am enjoying the shock jock Limbaugh's rant! He has become even more crazy and propelled in to the stratosphere is ranting about the award!! Gordo has sent his ritual congratulations and wondering why he was not in the list of the Norwegian cabal having saved the world and becoming the statesman of the planet. He still sounds like the emperor in Star Wars film, reading from his "wise economics" words in DT which for all practical purpose is a Labour sheet.
Ed
Well done for winning the Ostrich Award 2009. Global Warming deniers are a curious Phenomenon and I still don't quite understand why those that sign up to the rest of the Right Wing shibboleths also sign up to this one. Why should it be a feature of many rightists’ credentials to sign up to an anti-science and anti-rational position. Maybe you are all creationists and flat-earthers as well...??
What Peace?
>>It feeds his already over the top ego, and would you give back a million dollar windfall ?<<
Had he 'given it back', I'm sure he would be receiving a similar amount of criticism from people like Yak40 for having an ego so big that he thinks he above needing a Nobel prize.
The Nobels aren't like UK honours, where you get warned in advance and given the opportunity to quietly decline.
And the $1.4m is going to charity.
Or maybe Paddy some of us have actually looked out of a window. The fact that the globe is cooling is strong evidence that it isn't warming. The fact that the alarmists have been repeatedly caught lying & fabricating is overwhelming evidence that they are liars & fabricators.
The fact is that it is now impossible for any remotely honest politician to calim that "global warming" is not a scam & none do. You unnecessarily insult "left wing" politicians by saying that only right wing ones speak the truth on this.
By that standard Obama's contribution to peace, by early last February, certainly exceeded that of lying, genocidal, racist, fascist, child raping war criminal Al Gore.
He has brought the prospect of Peache.
Hope and determination are often enough to make a good start.
Quietzapple -
"peache"
have you been on the sauce again?
Peache sauce is very peacheful . . . .
But so keep on with the gluglifruit . . .
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