The Nobel Committee gives Obama the Peace Prize !?

[elfs]

That doesn't make any sense. As far as I can tell, they gave it to him because he's Not George W. Bush.

The man hasn't done anything yet. He hasn't closed Guantanamo, or come clean on our government's use of torture, or prosecuted those who broke the law, or reduced the ongoing militarization of the police. He hasn't made any steps toward solving America's energy hunger, or our irresponsible farm subsidy policies. He hasn't shut down our wars of choice, nor made concrete steps toward alleviating the suffering we inflicted on countries. He hasn't dealt conclusively with our economic trouble, which inevitably strains our domestic peace.

"He inherited all those things." Sure, and it's his job to fix them. He hasn't done that yet. For what did he earn a Nobel?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I find it highly ironic that these days Afghanistan is getting most of the attention and controversy, for a long time it was Iraq that was getting all the attention. Iraq definitely was a war of choice and badly thought out, though now it seems that they're becoming more stable.

Afghanistan had international consensus, and a clearly defined goal - removal of the training camps which were known to exist. Iraq was a search for WMDs - weapons of mass disappearance obviously.

[sirfox.livejournal.com]

Some of the folx on NPR this morning were discussing that sometimes the award is given in recognition for deeds accomplished, sometimes it's awarded as a means of prodding a person towards further action, in order to live up to it.

He's made some progress in changing diplomatic policy, basically unclenching and opening up a lot more dialogue than we had, but i'm not sure that that alone is worthy of the prize.

Here's an interesting question... What happens if he says he is very honored and humbled by the award, but can't in good conscience accept it.

[dr-memory.livejournal.com]

As a bona-fide screaming liberal Obama fanboy, let me just say:

Yeah, that's downright weird.

[ben-raccoon.livejournal.com]

Well, with Bush, the bar was set pretty damn low. I'd have to agree, though, let's wait for him to achieve, well, something significant first.

Sheez. Even without congress's help, there's a lot he can do just by himself. Odd that he's not doing it.

[solarbird]

Yeah, this. Internationally he's stopped being as much of a boor. But his Iraq plans are basically those laid out by Donald Rumsfeld in, what, 2004? (When was he was talking about a 50-year 50,000-troop background presence and describing it as akin to Korea? That was 2004, wasn't it?) and and and.

I mean, okay, it's fine to give the award as a political statement, because the entire damn award is a political statement. But as I said elsewhere, d00d should have to do something first.

[mouser.livejournal.com]

What happens if he says he is very honored and humbled by the award, but can't in good conscience accept it.

Then we won't be the diplomat we need him to be. That kinda thing sitting on your mantle HAS to be a serious line on the ole resume when dealing with people that want to start dropping bombs.

[doodlesthegreat.livejournal.com]

I dunno. I think his speech in Cairo knocked most of the Muslim world for enough of a loop to already do some serious good. As the Nobel chair said, they did the same thing to former West German pres. Willy Brandt at the same time in his administration, for work that most historians now see as the beginning of the end of the Cold War. It's not always given as a recognition of past work, but the promise of the future.

In cinematic terms,

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I dunno. I think his speech in Cairo knocked most of the Muslim world for enough of a loop to already do some serious good. As the Nobel chair said, they did the same thing to former West German pres. Willy Brandt at the same time in his administration, for work that most historians now see as the beginning of the end of the Cold War. It's not always given as a recognition of past work, but the promise of the future.

In cinematic terms, <a href="http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/>Oslo's Capt. Miller just told America's Private Ryan <i>"Earn</i> this..."</a>

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

damn, Elf. You just saved me a snotload of thinking and keystrokes.

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

Personally, I think it was the world saying "You aren't Bush (yeah!), and since we couldn't vote for you, we gave you this. "

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

Here's the part that puts it over the top in my book.

Nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize closed in February. (Don't take my word for it, folks - look it up!)

It's nice they're cheering him on, but couldn't they invent the Nobel Peace Honorable Mention for that?

[gromm.livejournal.com]

I agree totally.

At the same time, the Nobel committee says that it awarded the prize for the work he's already done in opening diplomatic relations with other countries, especially those in Islamic nations.

A coworker said "If he had averted a nuclear war between the US and Russia at the 11th hour, then he'd deserve it"

And I said "If I do something with our servers that prevents a major disaster from ever coming to light, wouldn't that be better than rescuing the situation at 3 in the morning?"

"Well sure, and I think that's commendable"

"Yes, but noone ever notices *that*. They only notice if I'm running around putting out fires."

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

I think his speech in Cairo knocked most of the Muslim world for enough of a loop

Nominations closed in February. Wasn't the speech after that?

[gromm.livejournal.com]

Most of these things aren't actually related to world politics like the Nobel Peace Prize is, is it?

Guantanamo almost qualifies, and Iraq and Afghanistan definitely does, but your other points have little to do with it. Gorbachev didn't fix Russia's crumbling economy, but he sure did help promote world peace.

[gromm.livejournal.com]

Those are nominations. The judging took place after that.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

So, somebody nominated him based on roughly two weeks of work, plus expected actions?

Oooookay.

[radven.livejournal.com]

Nominations closed months ago, but the decision making process was going on judging right up until this week.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

So he was nominated based on two weeks of work, and actions to be chosen later, and that was good enough to qualify as a nominee.

I feel like they've lowered the bar.

[danlyke.livejournal.com]

Remember, they also gave the peace prize to Kissinger and Arafat. I think the committee probably sees it as much as a tool to push people in a direction as a reward.

[rhonan.livejournal.com]

Um, Obama has been active on the international stage longer than he has been President, and the award is not about being s head of state. He started to have a positive impact on American foreign relations when he took his seat in the Senate. He spoke at great lengths as a candidate against the very policies the GWB followed that imperiled the international community. Keep in mind, while the science and literature prizes are usually about what someone has done, the Peace Prize is often about what someone is doing, or trying to accomplish.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

I thought this morning that if they gave it to Obama for his work on nuclear disarmament, then they should have given it to (or he should have mentioned) the co-sponsor of all of his nuclear proliferation work, Richard Lugar.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

BUSH kind of lowered the bar. He's not actively pissing on allies, antagonizing neutrals, and egging on his opponents.

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

There are, literally, tens of thousands of people who are eligible to submit nominations to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. So, yes, someone did nominate Obama at some time between last November and this past February.

The committee took the last eight months to evaluate the various nominations. President Obama was awarded the prize based on the last eight months, plus expected actions.

I see it as a great compliment to America, a sign that the world once again accepts the US as its moral leader.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_candide_/]

I was rather perplexed when I heard the news this morning.

Then, over the course of the day, I had another though. Rather than repeat it all here, I wrote this blog entry.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

Good point. I hadn't tracked his career in the Senate that closely, so I didn't look at it that way.

[(Anonymous)]

He's had several free throws where he could have done something but chose not to, or did the opposite.

He voted for FISA and for cutting off debate -- after promising to filibuster it.

He took Family Planning money out of his Stimulus bill and none of the GOP voted for it anyway.

He took the teeth out of the Lily Ledbetter Act.

He appointed a 'Council on Women' most of whose members are men.

He has not in fact done much about Gitmo.

He's defending DOMA.

He hasn't done anything for gays in the military.

He's now supporting health insurance mandates which he campaigned against in the primary. He's thrown public option under the bus (instead of threatening to veto any bill that lacks it). He's made deals with the insurers and Pharma.

[darrelx.livejournal.com]

I see it as one more pitiful reason to disregard the Nobel Prize committee as morons... Carter, Gore, now Obama -- all completely UNWORTHY of the prize, yet awarded it for purely political reasons.

[darrelx.livejournal.com]

Exactly... but he's still the liberal's favorite messiah. There's no accounting for the preferences of cultists.

[tagryn]

You missed the worst of them all - Arafat.

[darrelx.livejournal.com]

point.

[darrelx.livejournal.com]

I discovered later today that the rules state that the prize is to be considered for achievements prior to February 1.

The only thing he'd done prior to February 1 is win the election and talk a lot about things he hasn't been able to achieve since then.

This whole thing stinks. I wonder if the "charity" that is going to get his $1.4Million is the same one that Congress Defunded last month?

[(Anonymous)]

And he's just bombed the moon.

[srmalloy.livejournal.com]

Obama would have made a pile of positive PR for himself if he'd declined the award, saying that he did not feel that his accomplishments to date put him in the same class as the other recipients of the Prize. But that would only reap long-term benefits, and all his advisors seemed to see were the short-term benefits.

[(Anonymous)]

The world accepts the US as its moral leader? When the hell did the world ever accept the US as any kind of moral guide? Arrogant crap of the first order.

I'd say its more a sign that the world now accepts the US again, at all. We thought the US was a sore spot on the world in diplomatic terms up until Bush went out. But we don't defer to the US for moral leadership, for goodness sake.