The head of the Nobel committee lets the cat out of the bag

[elfs]

"He got the prize because he has been able to change the international climate," Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said. "Some people say, and I understand it, isn't it premature? Too early? Well, I'd say then that it could be too late to respond three years from now. It is now that we have the opportunity to respond – all of us."

Hmm. One can take that two different ways: first, that the Nobel committee wants to influence the world, and in three years they might have missed their opportunity. But if Obama is so fabulous, they'll have that opportunity anyway, won't they?

The other way is far more ominous. The Nobel is only ever awarded to living individuals. Perhaps the Nobel committee, reading the sheer raw hatred we've seen from the far right, doesn't think Obama will meet that condition three years from now. "It could be too late to respond."

Comments

[mouser.livejournal.com]

From a friend with a locked entry:

I heard an interview with the guy who heads up the committee. The vote was unanimous, and he said that the point of this prize is to *encourage* the important work of promoters of peace, so the committee wasn't bothered by the fact that these are early days.

I thing being known as a man of peace before he's finished his first term changes the way others will deal with him.

[herewiss13.livejournal.com]

You can find the interview with that quote at:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/09/nobel.peace.prize/index.html

Most of the commentary I've run across does seem to suggest that the Nobel Committee was looking for someone in the _process_ of peace-making, for whom the Prize would be a tool, rather than a reward. Gorbachev in 1990 is given as an example.

[doodlesthegreat.livejournal.com]

And as I mentioned in another post, Willy Brandt.

[damiana-swan.livejournal.com]

It does seem to me that Obama mostly won for Not Being Bush ... but the thing I find so notable is that the Nobel committee considered that to be SO valuable to the world as a whole that it was worth this level of acknowledgement.

To be honest ... I think they're (probably) right about how valuable it is and will be. He ain't perfect by any means, and I have a whole skeleton of bones to pick on various subjects, but having *him* in office has probably averted WWIII 2 or 3 times in just the past year. (I count the time since he won the election and before he actually took office, because Bush effectively abdicated in a lot of way in that time, and the international community started looking to Obama then.)

[shunra.livejournal.com]

Last time the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a sitting US president, it was Woodrow Wilson. That was due to his work in putting the League of Nations together.

Remembering how that worked out, this precedent is not comforting.

[gromm.livejournal.com]

And as the Nobel Peace Prize committee pointed out, it's the philosophy of promoting peace that gets the prize. Woodrow Wilson building the League of Nations at the time that he did was like a cat walking into a dogfighting arena (Europe) and suggesting another way of going about this. European powers at the time were nowhere near as afraid of total war as we are now with nuclear weapons in our arsenals.

It might not have been a success, but it was a step in the right direction when everyone was charging headlong in the wrong direction.

[(Anonymous)]

If Obama is really that fabulous, then the award will be prophetic.

If he isn't, then the award may be the extra boost needed to get a good result. Without this boost, he might fall flat and loose the opportunity.

Still I don't like their decision; there were too many more deserving people, eg either Bill or Hillary Clinton. Bill's foundation would put the money to very good use. And either of them would have been a good slap at Bush.

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

Well, I suppose that's one way of explaining their decision.

But it hasn't changed my mind regarding this blog entry I wrote. Namely, the decision was a result of Perception. I posit that the perception of the U. S. under Bush was far, far, far worse than the rest of the world dared admit openly, and worse than Americans are capable of recognizing.

[slfisher.livejournal.com]

Gawd, I never thought of the alive angle. shudder.