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

[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.)