Guess this makes it official; Barack Hussein Obama (mmmm, mmmm, mmmm!) being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize means that the Nobel Peace Prize means absolutely dick. i.e. Zip. Zero. Nada. Nothing.
It was bad enough when the prize was awarded to Al Gore, who at that time was singularly undeserving of such an award, but Barack Obama? What has he done to deserve this prize? Nothing that I can think of, unless he leads a secret life of which the public is largely unaware (oh wait, we still don’t know much about what his work as the editor of the Harvard Law Review, nor do we know anything of the grades he earned at Harvard.) According to one Reuters article, he deserves it for “… offering the world hope and striving for nuclear disarmament”? I guess you could say that his naive striving for nuclear disarmament gives hope to some, like Iran, North Korea, China and Russia (who surely were all laughing in their sleeves at his “… dreams of a world without weapons…” while “… right in front of us two countries are doing the exact opposite.”)
The prize surely isn’t for his leadership at the nation’s capitol when it comes to bipartisan cooperation, nor for his leadership in his dream of universal healthcare… All of that has left the nation even more polarized than when he (mis)took the Oath of Office in January. And the prize can’t be for his leadership in the role of Commander in Chief, as troop morale is at an all-time low in Afghanistan, exacerbated by the lack of clear mission goals and confusing rules of engagement that leave them poorly equipped to even defend themselves in the face of an enemy unafraid to hide behind civilians…
But according to the Nobel Prize Committee, he gets the prize because, “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.” So it’s all about celebrity. I laugh, as do many when they first heard this news. The only hope inspired in me by Obama is that his agenda for this country fails, and by the grace of God and the arrogance & incompetence of the Democrats in Congress, thus far it has.
Since the Nobel comes with a cool $4 million bonus, I wonder whether the Obamas will be inclined to “share the wealth” with the country. Something tells me that ain’t happening.
I was awfully surprised by this too (and I knew you would post on it today).
I don’t see it, I really don’t. I don’t think he’s done anything wrong in foreign policy, but he hasn’t really done anything major either. And he’s only been president for eight months, or something.
I have to agree with you here — I have no idea why he got this award.
As I’ve read & heard more on this today, the thing that sticks out even more is that the deadline for nominations was in February, and the Committee’s vote was held not long after that. So they were basing this primarily on campaign rhetoric? That’s just too much. Way too much.
I heard a radio talk show host conjecturing that this nomination was likely more about trying to put constraints on Obama in any possible military action during his Presidency… How would it look for a President who has won the lauded Nobel Peace Prize to escalate things in Afghanistan or make any move, preemptive or not, against Iran? I wonder if there’s something to that.
I did like this quote from Hilary:
“Certainly from our standpoint, this gives us a sense of momentum — when the United States has accolades tossed its way, rather than shoes.”
That was pretty good.