Seriously. He was nominated literally DAYS after getting into office. What in the world has he done?
Yeah, I've already read about all of this on Google News. Congratulations, President Obama!
NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION 4EVAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!
NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION 4EVAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!
So, tell me how Iran and North Korea are doing.
Seriously, the Nobel Committee can laud 'efforts' all they want, even if they don't do jack squat. But what has he done?
Give speeches?
Here's the committee's reasoning:
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009
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.
Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.
Only 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. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.
For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."
Oslo, October 9, 2009
Seriously. This is the basis of their decision?
In my book, this can only be a good thing for America. Having a sitting president who's a Nobel laureate can only improve our stock in the world and help us out in foreign policy situations. Okay, maybe the committee jumped a gun, since it's pretty much a reward for not being Bush, but why look a gift horse in the mouth?
Too bad they couldn't have announced this last week. Might have helped us snag the 2016 Olympics.
So, tell me how Iran and North Korea are doing.
They're just troll nations.
Figures 007 would be the one crying about this.
Clearly, the reason he was nominated days after his inaugration was because he wasn't Bush.
And what is it with Republicans having a hive mind mentality lately. If they aren't having an orgy because Obama failed to get the Olympics to Chiacgo then it's having a tantrum over winning the Nobel Prize.
Seriously, OUR president won the prize. How about being happy? Or do Republicans hate Obama more than they love America as Jon Stewart put it.
Not only is he the first black president, and a Nobel laureate, he's also the youngest seeker Hogwarts has seen in over a century. And to think he was once just a carpenter from Nazareth!
Dear Zod, this is stupid. I am by no means a Republican or a conservative, but the notion that Obama's done anything to deserve a NOBEL PRIZE is just laughable. All this will do is stir up even further conflict.
It is not my political leanings but my cynicism about messiah figures has prevented me from liking Obama. This only makes me more cynical.
Oh please
The ONLY people who called Obama a messiash are Republican pundits.
And to think he was once just a carpenter from Nazareth!
LOLblackjesus
Not only is he the first black president, and a Nobel laureate, he's also the youngest seeker Hogwarts has seen in over a century. And to think he was once just a carpenter from Nazareth!
Dear Zod, this is stupid. I am by no means a Republican or a conservative, but the notion that Obama's done anything to deserve a NOBEL PRIZE is just laughable. All this will do is stir up even further conflict.
It is not my political leanings but my cynicism about messiah figures has prevented me from liking Obama. This only makes me more cynical.
I agree with all of that!
Now allow me to be miss literal for a moment here.
He is the president of from my point of view is the most un-peaceful country/superpower in modern times. Sure they don't have any internal conflicts like iran but they sure like warring with everyone else. I fail to see how the leader of such a war-loving country can get a peace prize... o.o
And yes I know Bush started it but I haven't seen him take any action against it. He probably doesn't want to withdraw mind, as it's seen as a move of weakness and the US can't have that. But it's not peace is it!
Back to what he got it for though.
I bet in whatever move there is to get rid of nuclear arms, the US will be the very last country to get rid of them should it ever happen. Which it won't. The cold war is still too recent for that! They just don't want to get into any vunerable position whatsoever. Oh yes good leading by example. Truth be told I think these days a world without nuclear weapons is gone. It ain't gonna happen. At least not til the whole world become one massive superstate. United Countries of Earth!
And no I don't hate Obama. I wanted him to win the election, remember! But all this winning prizes for eff all and getting mountains or whatever it was named after him is just rediculous.
Gotta be honest here folks. As much as I think that Obama's a pretty awesome guy, even I was somewhat taken aback when I first found out that Obama won the freakin' NOBEL PEACE PRIZE only slightly over 8 months into his presidency. Dude's already said a lot, now he just needs to do a lot. I wouldn't have minded Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize sometime in 2011 or 2012 after he, y'know, actually fulfilled more of his objectives.
Let's not blow this out of proportion. The peace prize has never had the same oomph as the various other Nobel awards. The committed has a pretty subjective interpretation as to what "peace" is.
For sure, some real visionaries have received the award, such as Mother Theresa, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Dalai Lllama. But then there are some questionable choices on the list, such as Henry Kissinger and Yasser Arafat. Maybe at one point or another they did something to contribute to world peace, but did the good they did really outweigh the bad? Also, I think Al Gore's work is great, but what does it have to do with peace?
Then, there are even more significant omissions. Ghandi was nominated five times, and didn't even receive a posthumous recognition.
Love or hate Obama, I think it would be best if no one take this too seriously. You can go my route and consider it to be Nice Thing, or the other route and think of it as Minor Annoyance.
Anything else is an inefficient use of energy that could be spent on more valuable tasks, such as appreciating cats.
You know, you're right
*appreciates cats*
Figures 007 would be the one crying about this.
Clearly, the reason he was nominated days after his inaugration was because he wasn't Bush.
And what is it with Republicans having a hive mind mentality lately. If they aren't having an orgy because Obama failed to get the Olympics to Chiacgo then it's having a tantrum over winning the Nobel Prize.
Seriously, OUR president won the prize. How about being happy? Or do Republicans hate Obama more than they love America as Jon Stewart put it.
Stop confusing the President with the country itself. The Olympics thing was just silly because he ended up costing his office his aura of invincibility that he automatically gets as POTUS. And seriously, why does the President need to get involved with that sort of thing when there are more pressing issues?
The tantrum of the Nobel 'Peace' Prize is that he was nominated with less than two weeks tenure as President. What in the world has he done to advance peace? He is now at the helm of two wars (which he doesn't seem interested in answering questions about in a timely manner), our allies in Europe are feeling jilted by this Administration, and a menagerie of dictators throughout the world have been overtly complimentary of him. So how do you think we feel?
I will agree with you on the 'anti-Bush' angle though, silly though it was. Two countries liberated from terrorist-sponsoring regimes, and the world derides Bush and America. Obama comes in after Iraq is mostly a done deal, Afghanistan starts to spiral downward, he declines to comment on the Iranian elections (which most people concluded were rife with fraud) while butting into the situation in Honduras (where their former President Zelaya was CONSTITUTIONALLY OUSTED when he tried to force a referendum to do away with term limits, yet everyone acts as if an actual coup took place!). What 'Peace' is he responsible for? His Party has a majority in both houses of Congress and yet he and his ilk are STILL obsessed with painting Republicans as the ones 'standing in the way'. Despite his flowery 'post-partisan' rhetoric, his actions have been extremely partisan. And yet, he gets the Nobel Peace Prize.
The funniest thing about it all is that he recently declined to meet the Dalai Lama (the freakin' Dalai Lama) so as to appease China, that paragon of human rights.
So that's why people are upset. Because Obama has not done anything to even deserve it (he even admitted it himself, I must be honest; he still ended up accepting it though).
Srol wrote:
Anything else is an inefficient use of energy that could be spent on more valuable tasks, such as appreciating cats.
Meh, you're right. In the end, this only makes the Nobel Peace Prize a lesser thing. A shame.
Let's not blow this out of proportion. The peace prize has never had the same oomph as the various other Nobel awards.
The ribosome translates the DNA code into life = 2009 Nobel Chemistry Prize
The discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase = 2009 Nobel Medicine Prize
Both of those have caused a great deal of excitement in my university... Yeah along with 200 years of Darwin and newly published Ardi 
On topic: Obama was awarded the the Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". Well, IMO that makes sense. Although. like others I wouldn't have minded them waiting a few years. Maybe they ran out of good options?
Although. like others I wouldn't have minded them waiting a few years. Maybe they ran out of good options?
Let's look at some of the other 200+ nominees.
Sima Samar, women's rights activist in Afghanistan: "With dogged persistence and at great personal risk, she kept her schools and clinics open in Afghanistan even during the most repressive days of the Taliban regime, whose laws prohibited the education of girls past the age of eight. When the Taliban fell, Samar returned to Kabul and accepted the post of Minister for Women's Affairs."
Ingrid Betancourt: French-Colombian ex-hostage held for six years.
"Dr. Denis Mukwege: Doctor, founder and head of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. He has dedicated his life to helping Congolese women and girls who are victims of gang rape and brutal sexual violence."
Handicap International and Cluster Munition Coalition: "These organizations are recognized for their consistently serious efforts to clean up cluster bombs, also known as land mines. Innocent civilians are regularly killed worldwide because the unseen bombs explode when stepped upon."
"Hu Jia, a human rights activist and an outspoken critic of the Chinese government, who was sentenced last year to a three-and-a-half-year prison term for 'inciting subversion of state power.'"
"Wei Jingsheng, who spent 17 years in Chinese prisons for urging reforms of China's communist system. He now lives in the United States."
"Morgan Tsvangirai, the current Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and a major opponent of President Robert Mugabe."
This is just the names that were released; the full list won't be released until 2059, as per NPC rules.
Ultra, I think you've already proven your point, no need to keep doing so.
"Morgan Tsvangirai, the current Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and a major opponent of President Robert Mugabe."
If I were in a power-sharing regime with a brutal tyrant, I'd want a Nobel Peace Prize too.
Why is this worth any consternation at all?
The gentleman won the Nobel Peace Prize. The committee did not ask us for our opinion. The committee is not beholden to us. None of us had a vested interest in seeing someone else win, nor do any of lose because Mr Obama won. Most people don't even know who wins these prizes most of the time.
Laud or boo Obama, and then move on. Anything else is quickly verging on some irrational, Pavlovian response to Obama's name.
Even Obama himself said he was surprised to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Says it all really.
quote/He is now at the helm of two wars (which he doesn't seem interested in answering questions about in a timely manner),/quote
why does he need to answer questions about the two wars? a certain other administration didn't. in fact they lied to us almost on a weekly basis. go ask george dubya on his ranch if you want answers.
The ribosome translates the DNA code into life = 2009 Nobel Chemistry Prize
The discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase = 2009 Nobel Medicine Prize
This is precisely why I specified the PEACE prize. As opposed to the ones given in chemistry, literature, etc.
Although apparently there is a whole separate controversy this year regarding the Literature prize going only to obscure Europeans.
Rapid, as usual, said the right amount of words to communicate the correct amount of information.
Frankly I don't think he desereved it...I don't think any president weve had in the past 30 years has deserved a peace prize regardless weather I liked them or not, Politicians should no get PEACE Prizes PERIOD! because everyone knows modern polititcs are nothing but a circus that is slowly killing this country and that neither party is competent any more (Given both still have good & bad memebers, but overall incompitient)
so yea.....
In my book, this can only be a good thing for America. Having a sitting president who's a Nobel laureate can only improve our stock in the world and help us out in foreign policy situations. Okay, maybe the committee jumped a gun, since it's pretty much a reward for not being Bush, but why look a gift horse in the mouth?
Too bad they couldn't have announced this last week. Might have helped us snag the 2016 Olympics.
Actually I think the rest of the world is either scratching their heads or laughing at how stupid this is.
And even if he admitted that he didn't deserve it, he still accepted it. Making the acknowledgment of him not deserving it completely pointless. I'd have more respect for the guy if he had turned it down. But his ego forbade it. Obama was a no name politician who ran a spectacular campaign because everyone hated Bush and threw money at him. And since he's been in office there's been no 'change' and if there has been it hasn't been for the better. Hell no he didn't deserve the Nobel prize.
lolol
But on a serious matter, I don't have anything personal against him, but you just don't give prizes to people that don't deserve them, or that's how I view it. Obama for all intents and purposes IS our president and is subject to the same ridicule that any other president has been faced with in the past (Note: I'm a libertarian, don't accuse me of being this and that, fyi). And when the leader of our country accepts a prize that is fairly clear he was not worthy of, I can't help but feel that places again, more negative stigma against the US.
Just my two cents. *Shrug*
Whether he deserved it or not is pretty moot at this point... at least, that's how I see it. I don't really know what the committee was thinking either, considering that President Obama didn't seem to get anything done, as was stated before.
People will have their opinions, yada yada yak, but what's happened had happened. There's nothing more to it.
Also, Rishi, that picture... is not funny at all.
