President Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

[Tengilethos]

Huh... not alloweed to post URLs yet

The citations are from the BBC's main article on their site... you can't miss it if you go to bbc.co.uk

"US President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Committee said he was awarded it for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples"."

What do you think of this? Especially this part:

"Asked why the prize had been awarded to Mr Obama less than a year after he took office, Nobel committee head Thorbjoern Jagland said: "It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve".

"It is a clear signal that we want to advocate the same as he has done," he said."

I like Obamas foreign policies, but this seems a little bit premature... certainly scrapping the Missile Defense System in Eastern Europe was a very clever move (imho) which appareantly paid off, but i am not sure he really has made that much progress.

What is your opinion?

 

[Corny]

Re: Obama wins Nobel Peace Price

Oh .. I just saw this elsewhere and thought it was just a troll.
Interesting .. are they trying to silence the outrage about the literature nobel price
No honestly .. a bit surprising.

In before right wing rage

 

[jackoroe]

Re: Obama wins Nobel Peace Price

I'm sure it's for ending the war in Iraq. No...we're still there. Must be for ending the war in Afganistan. Nope...we're still there too. Must have been for closing Gitmo. Nope...that's still open.

Well, they gave it to Algore and that made no sense either. So they're consistent. But it's their award to give, so who really cares.

 

[jackoroe]

Huh... not alloweed to post URLs yet

The citations are from the BBC's main article on their site... you can't miss it if you go to bbc.co.uk

"US President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Committee said he was awarded it for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples"."

What do you think of this? Especially this part:

"Asked why the prize had been awarded to Mr Obama less than a year after he took office, Nobel committee head Thorbjoern Jagland said: "It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve".

"It is a clear signal that we want to advocate the same as he has done," he said."

I like Obamas foreign policies, but this seems a little bit premature... certainly scrapping the Missile Defense System in Eastern Europe was a very clever move (imho) which appareantly paid off, but i am not sure he really has made that much progress.

What is your opinion?

We can't seem to hold him accountable for the economy, because he hasn't been on the job long enough yet, but we can confer the Nobel Prize based on "what he is trying to achieve", not what he has actually achieved.

Like I said, it's their award to give. Whatever.

 

[Zeno Lorea]

This is way too early. He hasn't done that much yet. The Nobel Prize should go to people who have spent a lifetime working for peace.

This greatly diminishes the value of the prize.

 

[TriBi]

Interestingly enough the same topic has been posted at EC - and the (generally much younger) members there are of the same opinion: 'It's too early and he doesn't deserve it'.

Maybe he will at some stage - but I have to agree. It seems a rather ridiculous decision that does little more than cheapen the presumed value of a Nobel prize.

 

[grantt]

April Fool's!..........No, wait, it's Oct 9th

 

[kallipolis]

President Obama has changed the international dynamic of political realism, by engaging Iran through diplomacy rather than perceived military threats.

President Obama has chosen to engage Russia as an international partner, rather than a perceived military threat.

President Obama has chosen to accelerate the transfer of responsibility for security, in Iraq to the Iraqi authorities.

President Obama has changed the way the rest of the world understands the manner that the United States Government relates to the rest of the world. No longer intimidation, threats, and coercion. Rather the creation of partnerships with those countries that respond to diplomacy rather than threats.

Diplomatic action is a process, and not an event.

Much more needs to be done. There are still only 24 hours in each day. Patience pays dividends.

Many Americans expect immediate, positive results to arise from government policy changes. The world does not work like that. And never has.

I applaud President Obama for his new international realism. More power to his elbow.

The award of this prize to President Obama is well deserved.

 

[palemale]

I think people who win often get nominated repeatedly for a number of years before receiving the prize. Someone probably nominated Obama, expecting that he would be nominated a few time, then would win if the circumstances warranted. Then, the Nobel voters probably read about all the spiteful, right wing nut job gloating over Chicago's loss of the Olympics and wanted to send a signal that the world was not repudiating Obama.

 

[NickCole]

Who better than Obama to receive a prize he has not earned?

 

[grantt]

Who better than Obama to receive a prize he has not earned?

 

[White Eagle]

President Obama has changed the international dynamic of political realism, by engaging Iran through diplomacy rather than perceived military threats.

President Obama has chosen to engage Russia as an international partner, rather than a perceived military threat.

President Obama has chosen to accelerate the transfer of responsibility for security, in Iraq to the Iraqi authorities.

President Obama has changed the way the rest of the world understands the manner that the United States Government relates to the rest of the world. No longer intimidation, threats, and coercion. Rather the creation of partnerships with those countries that respond to diplomacy rather than threats.

Diplomatic action is a process, and not an event.

Much more needs to be done. There are still only 24 hours in each day. Patience pays dividends.

Many Americans expect immediate, positive results to arise from government policy changes. The world does not work like that. And never has.

I applaud President Obama for his new international realism. More power to his elbow.

The award of this prize to President Obama is well deserved.

Thank you kallipolis for a very well written post. If the wingnuts would read the quote of Nobel's will they would see that he, indeed, desesrved the prize.

 

[cityboy-stl]

My feeling is it has to do with the new attitude that the U.S. now actually cares to reach out to the rest of the world and work with everyone else to achieve peace - unlike the previous administration.

 

[kallipolis]

My feeling is it has to do with the new attitude that the U.S. now actually cares to reach out to the rest of the world and work with everyone else to achieve peace - unlike the previous administration.

That is part of it. An important part of it. But it is in the nature of the human being to respond to incentives, rather than threats.

President Obama is now responding to the needs of peace, rather than in pretending that the world is an American playground.

I rather suspect that the United States Chiefs of Staff have reminded President Obama that America needs friends, and allies - not more enemies.

 

[grantt]

This was a award for his potential, not for an accomplishment. Perhaps in a year from now, he could/would have indeed earned this for an accomplishment. Word is that even the White House is "taken back" by this announcement. I, too, am taken back by this premature recognition. Later, if earned, I would gladly stand up in total approval.

 

[andysayshi]

I think it's easy to over-estimate Obama's standing internationally, simply because the 8 years before him were so incredibly bad on the international stage. His election was a ground-breaking, uplifting experience for much of the world, but that fact is an achievement of the US as a nation, not of an individual.

Surely we should award achievements, not potential for achievement. Frankly, it lessens my opinion of the entire Nobel "brand".

 

[palemale]

Perhaps, in addition to recognizing Prez Obama for what he has done so far to improve international relations and promote peace, this award is also intended as an inducement to encourage Prez Obama to keep the US on the same path.

It is sad, however, to see that there are Americans, including guys on here, who are so bitter they just can't be happy for Prez Obama and the United States.

 

[farmerrex2002]

Umm how does this work?
Deadlines for nominations for this year’s prize ended on February 1, just 11 days after Obama took office. Associated Press claims that deadline is ”strictly enforced”. What did Obama do in 11 days that was so momentous to warrant a Nobel Peace Prize?

 

[Corny]

Deadlines for nominations for this year’s prize ended on February 1, just 11 days after Obama took office. Associated Press claims that deadline is ”strictly enforced”. What did Obama do in 11 days that was so momentous to warrant a Nobel Peace Prize?

A nomination doesn't mean anything. Even Berlusconi was nominated

 

[scottish1]

Perhaps this is a reward for being able to vacillate with style.

It may cramp his choices in dealing with Osama Bin Laden's crowd in Afghanistan and if push comes to shove over Iran.

I find the award very surprising so early in his Presidency and that it may add undue pressure to making decisions later on that don't match with being the recipient of such an award.