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?
Come on, it isn’t as if he has been sitting in Senate and the White House eating chips and wiping salt on his trousers all day. He’s committed to full international nuclear disarmament, which as I understand it is unusual for a US president.
Since he’s already got the award, how could he be “influenced” by it anyway?
That was 2008. He wasn’t awarded the prize.
This is all part of some subversive plot on the part of the Norwegians to butter us up for the next round of Viking invasions…we’ll never even see it coming…
Yoiks! The DNC issued the following statement:
Are the Dems actually growing a pair? Finally?
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.
I can’t see criticizing Obama over winning the award, the Nobel Peace Prize has historically been awarded in some very wonky ways and he has no control over the selection process.
I do think giving Obama the award sort of makes the Peace Prize look even more ridiculous than it already does, which is a very sad thing because historically some very deserving, important world figures have received the award. At the same time, the Peace Prize has also been awarded many times to people that just make the global body politic scratch their heads.
I can totally see giving the award to the Dalai Lama, he’s been an important international inspiration for many years. I can even see giving it to Jimmy Carter because he has been actively involved in international affairs ever since leaving the White House, and while a lot of people have negative opinions of former President Carter (myself included), I can totally see why he would receive a Nobel Peace Prize.
I can even see why Kissinger or Arafat were given the award: there is a long history of giving the prize to people who sign major peace accords (even if, in the context of history that individual is more of a warmonger than a peacemaker and even if the peace agreement ultimately is meaningless.) 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.
But giving it to Obama just confuses me, essentially prior to January he wasn’t really an international figure at all (aside from the media buzz a black United States Presidential candidate who looked like he could win from the very beginning generates in the international press), and you can’t point to any single major achievement in terms of “world peace” since he has been sworn into office. And before people jump on me for that statement, I’m not saying that as a slam against Obama. There hasn’t really been any meaningful opportunities for a U.S. President to bring about some big “peace agreement.” The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq were so entrenched and well underway before Obama entered office that everyone pretty much understood his approach to both conflicts would have to be gradual and in stages, and since there is no formal “conflict” with a formal entity neither conflict has much chance of a “negotiated peace settlement” ala the Vietnam War.
So while I can see giving the award to someone who has had a long career (albeit perhaps no singular enormous achievement like inking a major peace treaty) in furthering international good will, or giving it to someone who has had a singular enormous achievement I can’t really understand giving the prize to someone who has done neither of those things.
Withdrawing from Iraq.
Daaaaaaaaaaaamn.
Back in high school we called that a ‘burn’. I was bewildered by the decision for Obama, but this is just making me grin like a pumpkin. Shamefully I know, but…
Agreed.
There is much in what you say about how this handcuffs him vis-a-vis Afghanistan. Indeed, the Nobel Committee was probably playing some bit of politics with this award and that puts the President in a tough spot. That is unfortunate. But I still maintain that his winning the prize is legitimate; but danger lurks. That’s for sure.
Yes, we are. This award was not sought by Obama, it was awarded to him for re-engaging the world’s only superpower in multi-lateral international diplomacy. From Iran to North Korean to nuclear non-proliferation in general these efforts will be of the utmost importance to world peace over the next decade and this award is an encouragement to Obama and his administration to continue these efforts towards peace. The award has often been used in this way rather than as a reflection of actual tangible achievements.
Calling on Obama to decline is silly - he’s obviously not going to do that. And screaming that he doesn’t deserve it kind of misses the point. Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee believes that Obama’s election and initial diplomatic gestures and efforts represent the greatest hope for world peace over the past year. Americans should be proud of that fact and hope he lives up to the award.
Not surprisingly, he gave a classy speech just now responding to the announcement. And after thinking about it, I don’t agree with those who say he should decline. That’s kind of an insult to the committee and to a lot of the world. Just take it, and then get to work making sure he lives up to it.
When he does it, fine. BTW, has he done anything other than execute the plan that was in place before he got elected?
Executing the plan is more than the Republicans we’re going to do. McCain wanted to stay there for 100 years, remember?
New flash update:
It wasn’t the Nobel Peace Prize… it was the Swanson Peas Prize for making his two daughters eat their vegetables. Oh, never mind!
Reactions here in Norway appear to be generally the same as in the rest of the world: “Huh?”. I read the announcement and it appears that he is awarded the price mostly for having a great vision of a peaceful world without nuclear weapons, not so much for anything he has actually done.
I don’t have any proof of this, but I suspect that the new leader of the committee, Torbjørn Jagland, had a lot of influence over the price this year. If I am right, Obama probably got the price for simply not being George Bush; Jagland has been quite vocal when it comes to his feelings for both presidents.
No, I don’t remember because he didn’t. And don’t bother trying to argue about that, because I’m not going to derail this thread into rehashing that crap.