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?
Other side of Russia…it was Russia and China (the Sino-Russian War).
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.
The fact that it’s making so many on the right shit themselves with hatred, jealousy and bitterness justifies the choice all by itself.
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.
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. 
Grow up. Hasn’t this shit gotten old? You’re still playing Pokemon.
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.
All right man. You win. Obama’s a schlep. A mere poseur. Wants to kill your grandmother. I’ve heard it before. Duly noted.
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.”
Close. It was the Russo-Japanese War.
Too say it’s a tad premature is overly generous at best, but this is the most satisfying explanation I’ve read thus far:
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.
If he declines it, I will give him props. If he accepts it, he deserves all the condemnation he gets.
Regards,
Shodan
He is equally deserving, if not more, of the Literary prize. Which is to say… huh?!
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.
You had to come here full of reason and excellent arguments, did you? :mad:
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.
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.
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.)
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?
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.
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.