By BJ Bjornson
I actually thought this was something of a joke post when I first say the headline on the memeorandum feed here, but no, it�s the real deal.
US President Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Nobel Committee said he won it for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples".
The committee highlighted Mr Obama's efforts to support international bodies and promote nuclear disarmament.
Seriously? I mean, come on! I like Obama and everything, and he certainly compares favourably to his predecessor in office in not being a psychopathic war-monger instigating conflicts without cause and with no respect whatsoever for the rule of law, but that alone doesn�t a Nobel Peace Prize make, at least in my opinion.
Really, what has Obama actually done so far? Resisted the urge to start bombing Iran? Even Bush managed to do that, not to mention the Israelis. Obama hasn�t withdrawn US troops from Iraq, he certainly has shown no compulsion to end the war in Afghanistan or cease cross-border drone attacks into Pakistan. There is even a good possibility he will be increasing the US commitment to that war in the near future. Hell, he hasn�t even gotten around to closing down Gitmo.
As far as international diplomacy is concerned, he was lockstep in his support of Israel�s war in Lebanon and against Hamas and joined the demonization chorus against Russia in their war against Georgia that Georgia started. Sure, he�s made a lot of fine sounds when it comes to nuclear disarmament and international diplomacy, but so far the only actual achievement under his belt has been the cancellation of the non-functional missile defence bases in Eastern Europe.
I just see nothing here that makes Obama deserving of the Nobel Prize at this point, and by giving it to him, the Nobel committee has basically managed to make the right-wing media attacks claiming they are nothing more than a left-wing propaganda arm look valid.
Asked why the prize had been awarded to Mr Obama less than a year after he took office, Nobel Committee head Thorbjoern Jagland said: "It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve".
"It is a clear signal that we want to advocate the same as he has done," he said.
So not a joke, but it should be.
He won because he's not Bush and that's a really poor reason. He is undeserving and this lessens the Nobel Prize.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both you BJ and Ron. When I heard it on the CBC early news I gagged "what the f&^k". I've not read the citation yet but reported to be his advance in middle east peace - the Cairo speech - and nuclear disarmament. Ya nice guy, maybe, who can tell really he is certainly a celebrity who thinks highly of himself, but you get a Nobel for that or having for dream like intentions. Christ this means he'll be making another of his kumbaya speeches. I wonder what the Palestinians in Gaza think of this award and isn't he the guy that refuses to see Israel's little stock pile and isn't he the guy who under American and international law maybe technically a war criminal. This is a joke and unfortunately another sign that the Peace Prize is de-valued.
ReplyDeleteThe world community wants nothing more than a weak, contrite America. And Obama is delighted to give it to them.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it is us that has to live with the consequences of Obama:
The constant lying.
The staggering arrogance.
The dangerous narcissism.
The astounding incompetence.
Consistently, polls show that 50 percent of Americans strongly disapprove of the way he is performing as our president -- the fastest decline of any president in modern history. Americans know Obama best.
Let's continue to stand strong against Obama in every way and get Congress out of the hands of the insane Pelosi and Reid in 2010.
Obama is a smug, smirking con man. Nothing more.
so if he doesn't live up to expectations, does he have to give it back?
ReplyDeletelook, i don't like the snake-oil salesman to begin with, but the fact that he shares this award with mother theresa and martin luther king makes me ill.
A "psychopathic war-monger"? Is that supposed to be a balanced, intelligent assessment of George W. Bush's persona?
ReplyDeleteThey just jumped the shark because going forward this award means nothing. It was already that way for a lot of people but I think this move cements that view for a good portion of the people. Even those that support Saint O can not really point out to anything but a speech here or there. Heck every president including W said they wanted to reduce nukes in the world. Heck was it not Reagan who sign the START treaty's with Russia? It was he actual push to build up nukes that in turn caused the reductions but he never got a sniff of a NOBEL prize.
ReplyDeleteHis reward U.S. enemies and punish its friends diplomacy will in time prove to have promoted world peace as well as Neville Chamberlain's 1938 Munich Pact did with Hitler.
ReplyDeleteNobel Prizes once meant something to people in the U.S. Now they are equivalent to the Democratic National Committee announcing that they are giving money to a Democratic candidate for office - not even newsworthy enough to be reported.
Derrick�s comment does remind me of the one thing this award is good for, the sweet sound of right wing heads exploding.
ReplyDeleteI decided to stop being a linear thinker and to view it in the way all of our right wing brethren would, i.e. it is good and right because it will piss certain people off.� A lot.� And then I smiled a blissful smile despite the ungodly hour and the fact that it is the time of year when waking up in darkness (not metaphorical) will become the norm for several months.� Oh, they will rend their garments and gnash their teeth and froth and foam and stomp about at the perfidy of the Swedes Norwegians (damn people all look the same) and the Euros and all those who don't think that reflexive saber rattling is the appropriate response to every problem on the world stage.� [For some reason the Peace Prize is awarded in Norway, while the others are awarded in Sweden.� Some people will do anything to keep Henry Kissinger out of their country.] How totally fucking sweet.�
A "psychopathic war-monger"? Is that supposed to be a balanced, intelligent assessment of George W. Bush's persona?
ReplyDeletePosted by: Carlo | October 09, 2009 at 12:01 PM
why yes, yes it is, carlo.
however, it is a more accurate assessment of the gout ridden fat f*** richard bruce "dick" cheney.
i do not care whether he deserved the award or not, or whether it was a HUGE "F*** You" to the previous administration, it was SCHWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET to hear all of the Heads of the Haters / Reich Wingers / Extremists / White Supremacists / Neocons / War Mongers EXPLODE RIGHT OFF THEIR NECKS THIS MORNING !!!!!
ReplyDeleteBAWHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
For some reason my link embed above doesn't work. Here you go:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cogitamusblog.com/2009/10/the-sweet-sound-of-right-wing-heads-exploding.html
Mr. President, Refuse to Accept the Prize
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bernardfinel.com/?p=812
President Obama should refuse to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. It is clearly premature and undeserved at this juncture. The president has no significant diplomatic achievements under his belt. Worse, this feels like an effort not to reward a peacemaker, but to comment on American politics. I don�t like it. It is just inappropriate.
Mr. President, commit to working for peace in a speech, but tell the committee that as flattered as you are to be named, there are more deserving individuals out there and that you would prefer to be given the prize � if deserved � in response to a major accomplishment and not just because you are not George W. Bush.
The Left has been forever denying that the bulk of the US' MSM has a Left wing bias; just like they've been denying that the Nobel process is controlled by Leftists and is entirely politicized. Obama's so-called award should put any lingering doubts to rest.
ReplyDeleteObama (and the US voters by association) were awarded the prize for rejecting Bush/Neocons/Republicans, and taking a huge leap toward european-style socialism. The committee is saying, in effect, do as we want and we'll award you little prizes for your good behavior. The Nobel prize has all the power and credibility of the little gold stars my kindergarten teacher used to award for good behavior.
The Not-Bush Prize
ReplyDeletehttp://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/10/09/the-not-bush-prize/
the Nobel Committee effectively awarded the fifth Nobel Peace Prize for being Not-Bush
1. Former Vice President Al Gore
2. Economist and nyt Columnist Paul Krugman
3. IAEA Chief Mohammed el-Baradei
4. Former President Jimmy Carter
5. Current usa President Barack Obama
Let's face it, the last year hasn't been a vintage one for peacemakers. Obama doesn't deserve the prize but the wingnut drive-by commenters we're getting are being ridiculous with their conspiracy theories. Any old black helicopter is good to ride in, it seems.
ReplyDeleteRegards, Steve
Funny how Bush was far more qualified to run the country than is Obama; the Nobel Prize confirms that. By the way, they have a copy of O's Kenyan birth certificate if anybody is interested. But no, I digress--Democrats are not law-abiding people any more than they are willing to protect the US and the Constitution.
ReplyDeleteWe're going to be just like Great Britain soon!
Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize: OK, He�s A Nice Guy, But �
ReplyDeletehttp://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/10/09/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-ok-hes-a-nice-guy-but/
Is it really appropriate for the Nobel Peace Prize � granted �for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples� � to be given to a man who, as Commander-in-Chief, is still presiding over two wars, in which, as the announcement was made, civilians may well have been dying as the result of his orders?
Is it really appropriate for the Nobel Peace Prize to be given to a man who would rather look forward than backwards when it comes to decisions, taken at the highest levels of the previous administration, to turn America from a country that upheld the universal torture ban into a country that sought to redefine torture so that it could torture �high-value detainees� in a network of secret prisons around the world?
Is it really appropriate for the Nobel Peace Prize to be given to a man who, although he ordered the closure of Guant�mo and recognizes that it �set back the moral authority� that, in his opinion, �is America�s strongest currency in the world,� and also that it �became a symbol that helped al-Qaeda recruit terrorists to its cause,� endorses indefinite detention without charge or trial for some of the 221 prisoners still held in the prison?
Is it really appropriate for the Nobel Peace Prize to be given to a man who, through the Justice Department, is appealing a ruling extending the habeas corpus rights granted by the Supreme Court to the prisoners at Guant�mo to foreign prisoners seized in other countries and �rendered� to the US prison at Bagram airbase � where some of these men have been held for six years � even though the judge ruled that �the detainees themselves as well as the rationale for detention are essentially the same�?
Is it really appropriate to give the Nobel Peace Prize to a man who, although he revoked some of the Bush administration�s vilest executive orders and swore to uphold the universal torture ban, appears to be actively involved in the rendition of prisoners to the US prison at Bagram airbase?
Is it really appropriate for the Nobel Peace Prize to be given to a man who, although professing his admiration for the Geneva Conventions, has chosen to introduce Guant�mo-style reviews for the 600 or so Afghan prisoners held at Bagram, rather than the competent tribunals stipulated in Article 5 of the Geneva Conventions, and who, as a result, appears to be endorsing the Bush administration�s unilateral rewriting of the Conventions?
In conclusion, although I realize that less deserving men have been given the Nobel Peace Prize in previous years � Henry Kissinger, anyone? � and although I reiterate that Barack Obama seems to be a nice guy, and that his election victory last November lifted a cloud of tyranny from the United States, I also have to note another ironic subtext to the award: that it will, sadly, serve only to inflame the rabid wing of the Republican party, which is predisposed to believe a Democratic President is soft on national security issues, and who would only have respect for the Nobel Committee if it introduced a Nobel War Prize and handed it to Dick Cheney.
Democrats really are stupid. Cheer as the socialist face of the donkey is as exposed, as left-wing bias in the media is exposed and as Obama appears more as a manchurian for socialist Europe, all it does is make more and more right wingers. Democrats really don't know anything about the United states, and 2009 has proved it.
ReplyDeletehas been fun watching the loonytunes come crawling out of the woodwork to whine and complain and try to untwist their panties which are all in a wad.
ReplyDeletebawahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
as tom ( the moustache of understanding ) freedman said: Suck. On. This.
bite me:
ReplyDeletepathetic...
Funny how this has become such a psychodrama..we got the lefties who believe that anything short of immediate withdrawal from the Middle East constitutes Bushian war crimes. We've also got the right-wing Limbaugh amen chorus folks here who STILL want to believe the President Obama has a REAL Kenyan birth certificate hidden away somewhere (see comments above). The fact is that these awards are highly subjective, and as such, we're going to project our own beliefs onto this event. The Nobel committee clearly is trying to support Obama's efforts at a global approach to environmental and international affairs. I think it's a good thing, but that's just my own opinion. I also think that these folks all across the political spectrum are educating us more about themselves, than about the president. The spectacle of the Republican Party Chairman ridiculing the award tells us volumes about the (formerly) Grand Old Party's willingness to put national interest above partisan politics--in other words, not at all...
ReplyDeleteThe Nobel Curse will be on Obama. The Oslo committee has puffed up an already puffed up ego and Obama cannot refuse the prize as he is tooooo arrogant.
ReplyDeleteWith his nose stuck up in the air he accepted, and with acceptance the high expectations, higher than his nose, that go along with it.
Just like Chicago, paybacks are expected...and due.
The beta President has received the beta award from the beta Committee.
So much commenting by the wingers on this site today and all that comes to mind is Bruce Springstein: 57 comments and nothing's new. All we got was the whole well-known canon of knee-jerk anti-Obamaism regurgitated once again.
ReplyDeleteit is clear that liberals have no concept of consequence, this makes sense since children and minorities typically don't think past tomorrow. The rest of us adults will continue to beat back the liberal elites who want all the power and wealth for themselves. And the stupid morons that voted them into power will continue to be thankless stupid morons.
ReplyDeleteAnd the stupid morons that voted them into power will continue to be thankless stupid morons.
ReplyDeleteIngenious approach. And because those 'stupid morons that voted them into power' appreciate your steely contempt so very much, they will be happy to also vote you into opposition next time.
See, being condescending and flaunting your non-existing superiority may be a psychologically rewarding, but it won't win you any new friends and with the ones you have, you're kinda stuck on the outside.
Btw: I'm absolutely fascinated by the 'thankless' in your sentence.
I don't think Obama deserved to win...yet. It's a well done so far and keep going from the Nobel Committee. They want Obama to deliver on his promises and have awarded him ahead of actually achieveing anything!! I have written a blog post on the topic, 'Will the real President Obama please stand up?' if anyone wants to take a look http://wp.me/pCIZY-Y
ReplyDelete