# obama wins nobel peace prize....what is the sound of a right-wing head exploding? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 9, 2009, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172 "2009-10-09T09:07:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/141 "2009-10-09T15:39:18Z")
I look at it more as a bill, not a prize. “ok, we’ve given you this, now it’s your job to go out and earn it”. A vote of confidence with a mandate? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/142 "2009-10-09T15:44:11Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Theodore Roosevelt, a strong proponent of “American Empire” and a guy who pretty clearly bullied his way into getting control of the Panama Canal Zone and also in large part helped to push the United States into open war with Spain in his time with the Dept. of the Navy received the award because he mediated peace between Russia and France. Other side of Russia…it was Russia and China (the Sino-Russian War). ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/143 "2009-10-09T15:45:58Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > I believe he has done something. You guys don’t. I’m OK with that. I think he has done a lot without even trying and I suspect that is what bothers some folks. > > Hypothetically, if I could offer the world real hope of a future of multi-lateral efforts toward peaceful resolutions of currently intractable problems simply by winking twice, would I deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? I think perhaps I would. Others would say I hadn’t sweated enough, thus it would be a travesty. Not everyone sees things as black and white as Dopers do. Effort’s got nithing to do with it. If by sheer force of his personality, people stopped shooting each other, that would be great, and we can give him any award you want. It has not happened. There is no one who didn’t die because of him. Nobody who wasn’t tortured. He has not actually _done_ anything to advance peace. He made people feel happy and hopeful. Yippee. As I noted, so did Susan Boyle. Shit, Slumdog Millionaire made a lot of people hopeful. ---
**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:** [October 9, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/144 "2009-10-09T15:46:52Z")
The fact that it’s making so many on the right shit themselves with hatred, jealousy and bitterness justifies the choice all by itself. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/145 "2009-10-09T15:54:38Z")
Count me as another long-time Obama supporter whose first reaction was “Huh?” But then I got to thinking about it. This is obviously an attempt to lure someone to another country by offering some prestigious honor, and then arrest them on a 30-year old warrant as soon as they step off the plane. I think the whole thing is a plot by the Trilateral Commission. First Polanski, now Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/146 "2009-10-09T15:57:16Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Effort’s got nithing to do with it. If by sheer force of his personality, people stopped shooting each other, that would be great, and we can give him any award you want. > > It has not happened. There is no one who didn’t die because of him. Nobody who wasn’t tortured. He has not actually _done_ anything to advance peace. In McCain-world we’d’ve nuked Tehran by now. Plus, it’d turn out that Hitler really was alive and plotting world domination from his secret moonbase in Cabeus crater. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/147 "2009-10-09T15:57:33Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The fact that it’s making so many on the right shit themselves with hatred, jealousy and bitterness justifies the choice all by itself. Grow up. Hasn’t this shit gotten old? You’re still playing Pokemon. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/148 "2009-10-09T15:57:44Z")
Yeah he totally does not deserve it but i don’t see how turning it down would help him at all. And that response by the DNC is just pure awesome. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/149 "2009-10-09T15:59:05Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Effort’s got nithing to do with it. If by sheer force of his personality, people stopped shooting each other, that would be great, and we can give him any award you want. > > It has not happened. There is no one who didn’t die because of him. Nobody who wasn’t tortured. He has not actually _done_ anything to advance peace. > > He made people feel happy and hopeful. Yippee. As I noted, so did Susan Boyle. Shit, Slumdog Millionaire made a lot of people hopeful. All right man. You win. Obama’s a schlep. A mere poseur. Wants to kill your grandmother. I’ve heard it before. Duly noted. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/150 "2009-10-09T16:00:02Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > Grow up. Hasn’t this shit gotten old? You’re still playing Pokemon. He’s not wrong. The Right is going \*nuts \*today. All the rage against the Nobel committee makes for a great headline: “Conservatives Hate Peace.” ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/151 "2009-10-09T16:04:00Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Other side of Russia…it was Russia and China (the Sino-Russian War). Close. It was the Russo-Japanese War. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/152 "2009-10-09T16:09:09Z")
Too say it’s a tad premature is overly generous at best, but [this](http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/unexpected_developments.php) is the most satisfying explanation I’ve read thus far: > [@](#): > > This is an odd award. You’d expect it to come later in Obama’s presidency and tied to some particular event or accomplishment. But the unmistakable message of the award is one of the consequences of a period in which the most powerful country in the world, the ‘hyper-power’ as the French have it, became the focus of destabilization and in real if limited ways lawlessness. A harsh judgment, yes. But a dark period. And Obama has begun, if fitfully and very imperfectly to many of his supporters, to steer the ship of state in a different direction. If that seems like a meager accomplishment to many of the usual Washington types it’s a profound reflection of their own enablement of the Bush era and how compromised they are by it, how much they perpetuated the belief that it was ‘normal history’ rather than dark aberration. I respect his power as a symbol, but we in the US are so trapped in our own partisan, media-blitz echo chamber, that we’re not really aware (other than a few massively attended speeches abroad) of how much the rest of the world not only likes him, but has invested a great deal of renewed hope in him–and by extension, us as a nation. I imagine that a decade from now, it’s going to look like (a) an incredibly prescient decision, but one without an iota of controversy, or (b) an overly optimistic one based on what everyone hoped he would do but never quite was able to. I’m keeping my fingers crossed on (a). But in the meanwhile, a humble acceptance and 3 more years making good on the vote of confidence is his best bet. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/153 "2009-10-09T16:10:19Z")
> [@furt](#): > > And, of course, anything he does is going to be wrong in your eyes. :rolleyes: If he declines it, I will give him props. If he accepts it, he deserves all the condemnation he gets. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/154 "2009-10-09T16:19:39Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m tempted to just link to the “Messiah” thread. 😉 > > I voted for Obama. I think he’s done a good job so far with all the crap he inherited. The Noble Peace Prize? No freakin’ way! He is equally deserving, if not more, of the Literary prize. Which is to say… huh?! > [@FriarTed](#): > > I can think of one thing that could justify this decision- that in conducting an honorable & victorious campaign of the U.S. Presidency, he successfully overcame America’s heritage of racial tension. That is not an insignificant thing, though I really don’t think it justifies the Nobel. Then again, a lot of Nobels probably aren’t that justified. Has anyone here ever actually read a book that won the Nobel for literature? The science awards probably would stand more scrutiny though. Books don’t win the Prize, writers do for their body of work. And yes, I’ve read too many to count. I am surprised you didn’t know that. > [@Scylla](#): > > I look at it more as a bill, not a prize. “ok, we’ve given you this, now it’s your job to go out and earn it”. > > A vote of confidence with a mandate? You had to come here full of reason and excellent arguments, did you? :mad: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/155 "2009-10-09T16:20:37Z")
> [@SecondJudith](#): > > I’m a bit confused about why people think it would be bad if Obama were perceived as being “influenced” by the award. Is being influenced towards world peace a bad thing in the US? Of course peace is the ultimate goal. But, unfortunately, right now it’s not peace that’s needed in Afghanistan. It’s more troops and more agression. Our troops are in increasing danger (8 soldiers killed today when their base was overrun, by Taliban by the way who 'bama wants to give a pass to). It would be disaster if he holds back reinforcement because of this latest dvelopment. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/156 "2009-10-09T16:24:17Z")
He should use this for something big. Give a speech which really calls on the world to ship up. Draw a line in the sand if you will. It could be a great time to pull out the speech of his life. I’m actually coming around to this. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/157 "2009-10-09T16:24:20Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > He is equally deserving, if not more, of the Literary prize. Which is to say… huh?! There is precedent. Churchill got it because it was considered odd to give a war leader the Peace Prize. I’ve read all the volumes of “The Second World War” and, while good, it is not quite up to Hemingway (but better than Pearl Buck.) ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/158 "2009-10-09T16:25:09Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Are they really that hurting for nominees this year? I’m with y’all, unless they can offer one heck of a justification for this… This was my thought…maybe it is a slow year…maybe he truely does deserve it for this year. What is his closest competition for it? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/159 "2009-10-09T16:28:26Z")
> [@jimpatro](#): > > Of course peace is the ultimate goal. But, unfortunately, right now it’s not peace that’s needed in Afghanistan. It’s more troops and more agression. Our troops are in increasing danger (8 soldiers killed today when their base was overrun, by Taliban by the way who 'bama wants to give a pass to). > > It would be disaster if he holds back reinforcement because of this latest dvelopment. Given that he mentioned the justification for Afghanistan in his remarks this morning, I think it unlikely that this will influence him in any way. It is also not like there is significant opposition to the war, or that much of the world considers it unjustified. ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172/160 "2009-10-09T16:29:08Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Yoiks! The DNC issued the following statement: > Are the Dems actually growing a pair? Finally? You know what? No. This kind of stuff is no better when the Dems do it than when Joe Wilson does it. “Throwing their lot in with terrorists” is the kind of ignore-the-issue-and-try-to-score-points nonsense that pisses me off from the one side, and what, you think I should cheer because _this_ time it’s the side that’s nominally “mine” doing it? Forget it. The DNC should grow up, so should Michael Steele, and you know what? I want a pony. I should stop reading the news. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-what-is-the-sound-of-a-right-wing-head-exploding/513172.md?page=9)