# In hindsight, did Obama deserve his Nobel Peace Prize? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 3, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827 "2010-12-03T16:50:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/1 "2010-12-03T16:50:53Z")
Peace? We are still in Iraq and Obama is increasing the involvement in Afghanistan. Hope? For the real-life people, hope is a rare commodity. For those of you that point to (IMO questionable) numbers and want to claim the economy is improving, please discuss your view with those that lost their unemployment benefits this week or try to sell your house or try to buy a house or look for a new job. Togetherness? The mid-term voter would rather have wacky-ass teapartiers than Democrats. I would really like to hear the rationale anyone can give that Obama’s NPP has been justified by the last 18 months. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/2 "2010-12-03T16:58:14Z")
I didn’t think he really deserved it in at-the-time-sight. You appear to be under the misapprehension, however, that the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by American voters. Or Americans, for that matter. Perhaps you should read up on it a bit and try again. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/3 "2010-12-03T16:58:37Z")
I would say that his award of the Peace Prize was certainly… premature. I don’t think anything that’s happened in the last year or so has altered that view. But let’s get this straight: the Peace Prize isn’t intended to be a popularity contest for the American voter. The state of the economy and how many tea party candidates were elected to Congress is completely irrelevant to the question. ETA: Wow, now that’s a simulpost. With simulcontent. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/4 "2010-12-03T16:59:01Z")
IMO, no. But I didn’t think he deserved it then either. I seriously doubt that he will do anything to deserve it during his administration and I am an ardent supporter. I do think that the jury is still out on Al Gore and his prize. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/5 "2010-12-03T16:59:51Z")
Most people agreed at the time that the award was premature, and that it was given as an encouragement rather than a recognition of his achievements. I think coming to a conclusion about whether or not it was deserved a year later is also premature. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Hope? For the real-life people, hope is a rare commodity. They didn’t give him a prize for inspiring hope. > [@](#): > > Togetherness? The mid-term voter would rather have wacky-ass teapartiers than Democrats. That’s a very inaccurate summary of the midterms, and it has nothing to do with the Nobel prize. They did not give him the prize based on what they thought would happen in the midterms in 2010. [Here’s what the Nobel committee said when they announced Obama would be the 2009 peace prize laureate.](http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2009/press.html) The decision was announced last October 9 and the prize was awarded on December 10. > [@](#): > > 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.” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/6 "2010-12-03T17:12:54Z")
I believe I said at the time that he didn’t deserve it. He’s done nothing since to change my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/7 "2010-12-03T17:14:59Z")
The act of keeping Sarah Palin from getting anywhere near the Oval Office was, in itself, tanatmount to saving the planet, so yes, even if he never accomplishes anything else, he deserved it. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/8 "2010-12-03T17:15:53Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The act of keeping Sarah Palin from getting anywhere near the Oval Office was, in itself, tanatmount to saving the planet, so yes, even if he never accomplishes anything else, he deserved it. What if he loses the election to her in 2012? ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/9 "2010-12-03T17:21:21Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > What if he loses the election to her in 2012? The we won’t have to worry about Peace anymore anyways? :dubious: Obviously the award was dubious from the start. Of course, the first item listed was about nuclear reductions, and he did help negotiate a new START treaty - not that it’ll matter much if the GOP won’t help get it approved. The rest of the committee’s rationale was aspirational at best. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/10 "2010-12-03T17:21:52Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > What if he loses the election to her in 2012? Then it’s his duty to bludgeon her with the prize medal before she can take the oath. Seriously, it’s in the EULA. Paragraph 14.A. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/11 "2010-12-03T17:25:09Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Then it’s his duty to bludgeon her with the prize medal before she can take the oath. > Seriously, it’s in the EULA. Paragraph 14.A. I remind you that I am the openly evil Doper, not you. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/12 "2010-12-03T19:24:49Z")
I thought at the time that it was dubious whether he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. Still do. However, the one thing I know for sure is that whether he deserves it or not has absolutely nothing to do with U.S. domestic politics. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/13 "2010-12-03T19:53:42Z")
One opinion I’ve seen is that he was given the prize essentially for not being Bush or, to a lesser extent, McCain. To that end, while he definitely isn’t either of them, some of the defining policies of the Bush administration are still in place. To some extent, Bush was so reviled by so much of the rest of the world that by virtue of not being him he has increased international diplomacy and cooperation. To that extent, it is true, but it seems awfully shaky to me. Regardless, it seems to me that the main purpose is that they perceived that he was improving diplomacy, correctly or not, and they wanted to encourage that. If they genuinely believed that to be true and they genuinely believed that awarding the prize would encourage it further, then he deserved it. However, asking whether he still deserves it in that context barely over a year later is awfully premature because we really can’t see the effects of his diplomatic policies until at least near the end of his first term, but likely even years after. And, even then, I think it’s only meaningful in comparison to how someone else, McCain, might have handled the same situation. We have to remember, Obama was a brand new shining star on the world stage, so he really did look like he might be bringing in a new order of international relations. A lot of that hype has died down since then. I do think our international relations have improved over the last two, but I’m unsure just how much of that is due to his actions and not because of other events that he has no control over. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/14 "2010-12-03T20:19:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Obama was a brand new shining star on the world stage, so he really did look like he might be bringing in a new order of international relations. I would have hoped the Nobel committee was a little less naive than that. Apparently not. If nothing else, perhaps this will discourage awarding the Nobel Prize proactively. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/15 "2010-12-03T20:38:00Z")
I think it was a purely political move. The Nobel committee was doing what it could to give Obama even more heft and gravitas because they thought he was going to do things that they approved of. And now it turns out that he basically affirmed pretty much every Bush foreign policy initiative, maintained Bush’s Iraq timeline, doubled down in Afghanistan, ordered the extrajudicial execution of an American citizen, failed to maintain Bush’s leadership in Africa, and Wikileaks has unveiled numerous embarrassing things about his State Department, including Hillary Clinton. He promised transparency and a halt to the increase of executive power, but once in power he became even more secretive than Bush and claimed even more executive privilege. His various gaffes and failed diplomatic efforts have reduced America’s standing, and he is routinely rebuffed or ignored at international conferences. So no, he didn’t deserve his Nobel prize. Nor did it have the effect the Nobel committee hoped it would. In fact, its obvious political motivation may have blown back in Obama’s face and contributed to his downfall in popularity. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/16 "2010-12-03T20:41:16Z")
I don’t think there’s necessarily a problem with awarding the Nobel Peace Prize proactively, particularly if they believe that it will help encourage a laudible goal. The problem with awarding it to Obama was that he hadn’t yet lived down his hype, and so it seems to me as though it was rewarded more on hype that he could do these things rather than on a belief, absent that hype, that he could accomplish those goals. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/17 "2010-12-03T20:51:06Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I didn’t think he really deserved it in at-the-time-sight. This X 2 ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/18 "2010-12-03T20:53:50Z")
> [@flickster](#): > > This X 2 Plus 20 gazillion. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/19 "2010-12-03T20:54:04Z")
Introducing the Procrastinator’s Prize: an award today for what you might possibly maybe do tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827/20 "2010-12-03T20:56:24Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Introducing the Procrastinator’s Prize: an award today for what you might possibly maybe do tomorrow. He sold us a bill of goods on that hopey changey thing, and since then, has consistently failed to deliver on any of it. I am through with him. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-hindsight-did-obama-deserve-his-nobel-peace-prize/562827.md?page=2)