Originally, I was just going to repost my AT blog post on the news that President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize.
But those of you who read what I write both there and here are aware that I put a little harder edge on what I write at American Thinker than at RWNH.
I think most honest observers on the right and left would have to agree that President Obama has no concrete accomplishments that would make him deserving of this honor. A perusal of the list of past winners would make Obama stand out as the only recipient who never negotiated any agreement, didn’t intervene to prevent bloodshed, never put his personal popularity on the line to push through an important treaty, didn’t risk his life to bring peace to his own war torn country, or any other criteria previously used in Nobel citations that would place him on par with those so honored in the past.
In order to give President Obama this award, the Nobel Committee had to lower the bar:
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.”
“Extraordinary” efforts? He has been in office 9 months - almost completely absorbed in domestic affairs. The word “extraordinary” in this case rings hollow indeed.
And what about the committee attaching “special importance” to President Obama’s “vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons?” You don’t have to oppose the president to raise an eyebrow there. Activists have spent their entire lives working toward that “vision” - many of them prominent statesmen and personalities. And President Obama is recognized for his johnny come lately efforts - or I should make that “effort” since his one day dog and pony show as chairing a Security Council meeting on the subject constitutes his only exertion toward that goal.
The Nobel committee has simply lowered the bar in order to award the president his honor. Even compared to other presidents who have received this award, Obama’s efforts and most especially his accomplishments, just don’t stack up.
Teddy Roosevelt got his peace prize for mediating between Japan and Russia and ending their bloody war. Woodrow Wilson got his for his efforts at peace after World War I. Jimmy Carter - whatever else you can say about him - engineered a singular, personal triumph with the Camp David accords which was the first peace agreement between Israel and another Arab state.
What’s Obama done? What peace has he negotiated? What efforts of his have born fruit?
The news could just as easily be a Saturday Night Live comedy skit or a Mad Magazine layout. If it had appeared in either one of those venues yesterday, it would have seemed a ripe subject for satire and humor. I daresay even many liberals would have laughed at the notion of Obama getting the Nobel for peace.
Is there a possibility that this is an effort to meddle in our domestic politics? Setting the president up as an international demigod certainly plays into his cult-like status here in the US. I have no doubt it will boost his approval ratings and could supply a little impetus for health care reform. And 2012? Too soon to say what impact it might have there but it couldn’t hurt, could it?
Despite all this, it wouldn’t kill those of us on the right to offer congratulations to the president. For whatever reason, this is indeed a high honor and brings nothing but warm feelings from other peoples around the world to the United States. I don’t attach any real world importance to that.
But it couldn’t hurt, could it?
INTERESTING UPDATE
According to their own website, the deadline for the submission of names to be considered for the prize is February 1.
Obama was not nominated based on what he had accomplished as president because he had been in office for about 11 days.
I would add a simple, declarative WTF and leave it at that.
6:01 am
Of course bear in mind that the nominations had to be in by Feb. 1, 2009. Musta been a great 2 weeks!
Heh - was updating the post as you were leaving the comment. Great minds…
ed.
6:53 am
[...] Rick Moran noticed that According to their own website, the deadline for the submission of names to be considered for the prize is February 1. [...]
6:54 am
Well it was one hell of an eleven days, OK?
Actually, for some of us who kind of like the president it will be fun just watching the reaction from the Obama haters. The spluttering outrage should be kind of entertaining.
I wish I could have seen the look on Sean Hannity’s face when he got the news flash.
7:08 am
Obama wins a nobel Prize?…
Yes, The Slacker in Chief has one the Nobel prize. Unbelievable. I first saw mention of this on twitter and went “WTF, Over?”
……
7:30 am
I do declare WTF!
7:46 am
I support Obama as you know. And I think this is nuts. It’s like giving a promising young officer a Medal of Honor because he performed competently on his first patrol.
I have read several Obama supporters say pretty much the same thing. It’s not an issue to go off the deep end as some righties are predictably doing. But I am glad to see honesty and thoughtfulness from both right and left on this issue.
Some talk that he should turn it down because of Iraq and Afghanistan. I don’t think so. This is, even if many Americans don’t think so, a singular honor and he should be congratulated that the world thinks this highly of him. Why they do troubles me as you know.
ed.
8:03 am
Wait a second here…who says that the Nobel Committee made its decision on February 1st? Wouldn’t a decision like this be made some months later? (Sorta like how the Oscar nominees are chosen in January, voted upon in March, and awarded in April!) Still though, even if the Nobel people made their decision last week, choosing Obama wasn’t the obvious thing to do.
Perhaps they were deadlocked and he was the compromise candidate. Or maybe they were bored and wanted to see right-wingers and insipid media talking heads explode! Because we all know that these folks will not “leave it at that”…
Please read what I wrote. “Obama was not nominated based on what he had accomplished as president.” I didn;’t say he won back in Feb I said he was nominated. I said he was nominated based on what he had accomplished as of Feb.
ed.
8:05 am
[...] II: Rick Moran, over at the Right Wing Nut House, has made an amusing observation followed up by an even more interesting expositive. According to [...]
8:07 am
Yes, it could hurt to congratulate him. One thing about the man that we keep forgetting is that, though you have pointed out quite correctly that he IS a neophyte, HE ALSO DOESN’T PROPERLY REALIZE HE’S A NEOPHYTE!!
What happens to the callow youth that is granted the high honor he really does not deserve? What happens to Mike Reynolds promising officer being given the Medal of Honor for leading one patrol?
He gets a big head. Given Obama’s greenness, that is DANGEROUS. He should NOT be congratulated. Someone, somehow, needs to be the Coach to this man, take him out somewhere quiet and remind him that he still hasn’t done squat, that he really is NOT the Messiah.
A Messiah in the White House is bad enough. An unqualified one who keeps getting told that he in fact IS one is indescribably ominous.
How can anyone in the future ever take the Peace Prize committee seriously again?
8:09 am
Surabaya, WHY was he nominated after 11 DAYS???? One simply cannot get away from the fact that such a nomination is utterly bogus, worthy of SNL.
9:09 am
In fairness to the nomination process, Obama did have 11 days to prove that he’s not George Bush. I can confidently say that he’s not, because I’ve seen his birth certificate…
9:13 am
Stew,
Continuing your Oscar analogy, nominating President Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize after 11 days in office is like nominating a movie for Best Picture while it’s still in post production.
9:24 am
I knew your heads would be exploding over this. Ah, gotta love the GOP patriotism. Guess who else agrees that it was undeserved? The Taliban and Islamic Jihad. Otherwise, the reaction has been pretty positive: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8298802.stm
Better read more lefty blogs. The serious ones have a lot of questions. The Obamabots like you are predictably uncritical and blind.
ed.
9:40 am
Yeah “ed.”, I’ll take advice about serious blogs from you…
Truth is, this is very good for the country, but that doesn’t matter now to most GOPers.
10:00 am
This is from the nobelprize.org website:
Three things stand out if I’m reading this correctly:
1. Obama could in fact have been nominated as early as September of 2008. Truly, that doesn’t make any sense at all were in fact that the case; however we may never know when his application was postmarked. So September 2008 or February 2009; either way, its still WAY premature!
2. Since the voting takes place in October and nothing is mentioned about not considering achievements of the nominee in the interim period, one must assume that the Nobel committee based its award on everything Obama has done up until just before they voted. Seen in this context, the Nobel prize now makes some sense, even as Obama’s achievements up to date are debatable.
3. Considering all the time and work that goes into the Nobel awards selection process, why they hell did they give this to him now? There are at least 3 (and probably 7) more years of an Obama Presidency ahead of us; this part still makes no sense.
10:02 am
“but that doesn’t matter now to most GOPers”
Nor, it seems, does it matter to you. It is bad enough the President of the US puts the prestige of his office on the line in order to gain an advantage for Chicago to get the 2016 Olympics. Expectations were huge and the response of MSM was telling when they had to unbelievably and breathlessly report the US did not even make it out of the first round of voting.
Why do you want to put the pressure of this on him along with everything else he has to deal with. From now on he is saddled with the title of President and Nobel Laureate. The pressure for him “to accomplish” anything will be enormous. Every petty tyrant out there with a grudge against the US will be gleefully looking for any way to bring the young POTUS down, knowing fully that every defeat will be an even bloodier blow.
Is that what you want? But I don’t think it matters much to you Dhimmocrats!
10:16 am
“It is bad enough the President of the US puts the prestige of his office on the line in order to gain an advantage for Chicago to get the 2016 Olympics.”
Good grief, are you guys still hung up on that?? Do you have the same criticism for the King of Spain, the President of Brazil, and the Prime Minister of Japan? Of course Chicago didn’t make it out of the 1st round–it was a bad venue!
“Every petty tyrant out there with a grudge against the US will be gleefully looking for any way to bring the young POTUS down…”
How is that different than what you all are doing?
10:42 am
yes, some righties are hung up on the failed olympic bid (and really, folks– get over it already). yes, some lefties (coughToddcough) are ready to compare critics of their fave new prez with terrorists at the slightest provocation. so what’s new?
but the rest of us - and i hope, most of us here in the real world - are with michael reynolds and rick who are wondering why obama got the nobel for achievements as yet to be accomplished. wtf?
10:53 am
Here ya go brooks: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8298690.stm
By the way, I didn’t compare his critics to terrorists, I said they had the same reaction. Translation: The GOP and these groups hate Obama out of ideology.
10:55 am
I do think though that the upside of the GOP’s negative reaction to this is that they’ll turn off so many centrist people that they’ll be out of power for a long time. During that time, hopefully a true center-right party will emerge and the GOP will sit on the fringe where it belongs.
11:03 am
[...] of folks are writing about this. Among them: Fausta; Rick Moran, who notes Obama had been in office no more than 11 days when nominated; Hot Air, where Ed tells us that the DNC thinks we’re terrorist sympathizers [...]
11:12 am
“GOP’s negative reaction to this is that they’ll turn off so many centrist people that they’ll be out of power for a long time”
Or could it be that people will see this as the Nobel Committee trying to impose their wishes and will upon the US. Think about it for a moment instead of polishing your friggin’ silver -
Will a Nobel Laureate increase troop strength in Afghanistan?
Will a Nobel Laureate really turn the screws to get Iran to quit misbehaving? North Korea?
Will a Nobel Laureate force Israel to accept peace terms?
Will a Nobel Laureate unilateraly reduce the US store of Nuclear weapons? Eliminate them entirely?
Will a Nobel Laureate be influenced to reduce US military effectiveness?
If you do not see the implied manipulation, I wonder if you see anything other than your own desire to see the GOP “on the fringe” regardless of what it does to the country.
11:25 am
The bar has already been lowered. This isn’t the first time the Nobel has been awarded to a treasonous murderer. Obama’s undermining of the Constitution of the United States and his desperation to please such intrusive international cartels like the U.N. are the reason he’s gotten this award. There’s a game I found earlier this week whose plot is BUILT around this, google “2011: Obama’s Coup Fails”. You have to be brain dead not to realize that Obama doesn’t give a damn about preserving our Union, he’s actively out to destroy it.
Never mind that he’s done absolutely nothing to achieve peace, he hasn’t even made STRIDES towards it! For being such an out spoken critique of Bush he intrenched us even further in the wars started under Bush’s command. He’s such a con-artist and everyone on the committee knows it - that’s what so disturbing about all of this.
11:25 am
My answers:
1) It’s unlikely that will help
2) N. Korea is returning to talks and Iran/US are engaging in negotiations for the 1st time in 30 years
3) I certainly hope so!!!
4) He’s not doing that, although he did get a pledge from Russia to work together on this issue.
5) In what way? Our military effectiveness has been reduced already by sending our guys into wars with no strategy for success.
The GOP is already on the fringe and is damaging the country. We need a center-right party.
11:36 am
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12:02 pm
“You have to be brain dead not to realize that Obama doesn’t give a damn about preserving our Union, he’s actively out to destroy it.” Que?? Isn’t it Rick Perry and Todd Palin and others who endorse secession? What’s he going to tear it into? Also, how is he a “treasonous murderer?” That’s quite the label.
12:48 pm
What the (expletive deleted) were they thinking?
1:33 pm
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1:35 pm
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1:39 pm
Rick says:
“And what about the committee attaching “special importance” to President Obama’s “vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons?””
“And President Obama is recognized for his johnny come lately efforts - or I should make that “effort” since his one day dog and pony show as chairing a Security Council meeting on the subject constitutes his only exertion toward that goal.”
What about the Lugar-Obama nonproliferation initiative Rick??
$48 million bucks to be used to destroy conventional weapons stockpiles, intercept weapons of mass destruction and respond to proliferation emergencies..
Oh right…I forgot…anything less than a trillion is considered a “pittance” by you..
$48 million ISN’t a pittance? Omigod what an ignoramus.
ed.
1:58 pm
todd:
aw, that’s swell– they give him an “A” for effort! if only watson & crick had known that all they had to do was try super-hard to identify the DNA molecule, and that the identification itself was not even necessary, maybe they wouldn’t have had to work quite so hard! really, if this isn’t the very definition of bar-lowering, i don’t know what is.
okay, i don’t like their tone either, but still: call me crazy, this just looks an awful lot like a comparison to me. just sayin’.
blockquote>You have to be brain dead not to realize that Obama doesn’t give a damn about preserving our Union, he’s actively out to destroy it.
and to speak of the devil, daman, who assuredly is personally well-acquainted with the condition of brain death, decides to bring the crazy after all. and some people wonder why the left thinks you guys are nuts? good lord preserve us!
2:00 pm
d’oh!
2:32 pm
Obama says Nobel Peace Prize is “call to action”
InTrade had action with Hu Jia, Morgan Tsvangirai, Thich Quang Do, Ingrid Betancourt, Nicolas Sarkozy, Tony Blair, with Pete Seeger having the most, just behind “Anyone else.”
Obama was listed but had no action as did Michael Jackson and Bono.
3:32 pm
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3:48 pm
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7:27 pm
Brooks, the Nobel Prize Committee itself declared that he has accomplished something quite remarkable in a short amount of time: He has changed the direction of the poisonous diplomatic discourse in many areas and has ACTIVELY worked toward bring people together. We went from being one of the most hated countries on the planet to being most-admired and having a NPP laureate in the WH.
I agree with Rep. Grayson 2 days ago when he said that if Obama cured world hunger, he’d be slammed by the GOP for adding to over-population, and if he helped usher in world peace he’d be accused of destroying the defense industry. The guy CANNOT do ANYTHING the Right will EVER accept.
8:35 pm
The Nobel Prize is nice, but I’d rather see the President praised by a majority of his own countrymen for keeping his promises regarding jobs and taxes and for keeping our nation safe.
11:18 pm
Doug, part of keeping our nation safe is having the world WITH us. The world was definitely not with us this time last year. He also does have a majority approval rating domestically too. I have every confidence he’s working hard. I truly do not agree with everything he does and I send respectful letters of disagreement to the WH when I don’t.
This is a wonderful honor for ALL Americans (even the haters), and Obama’s brief speech about his having won really credited the country than himself.
2:20 am
Rick calls me an “ignoramus”:
“$48 million ISN’t a pittance? Omigod what an ignoramus.”
ed.
It’s “Oh my God” Rick, not “Omigod”..
You write like a seventeen year old girl sometimes Rick, with the juvenile name calling, cutesy word jumbles, and inappropriate capitalization..
We all know how seventeen year old girls feel a need to lash out when confronted with their inability to admit that they’re wrong about anything, but I expected you to at least address my question to you instead of just focusing on my pithy comment at the end of my post..
The fact remains that you were wrong (again) in stating that chairing a Security Council meeting on the subject of nuclear non-proliferation constitutes Obama’s “only exertion toward that goal.”
5:51 pm
al whore and a guy who breaks us national security, a spy. this thing must be crap
7:59 am
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2:01 pm
todd, you have no balls. Ad hominem attack? Absolutely. But you have no balls.
it’s such a spineless (though predictable) response for you to retreat from and lie about what you were actually doing. that is, you very much did compare right wing commentators to terrorists. and when brooks called you out on it, you denied it.
additionally, are you really using bbc as your medium for “fair” reporting? it’s the new york times of europe. that’s like asking michael moore to make the decision on whether or not we should own guns.
6:46 pm
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11:18 am
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