Posted on 10/09/2009 4:35:37 AM PDT by DB9
I admit it: I've been sceptical in the past about Barack Obama. I thought he was weak on terror and an incompetent diplomat who managed to alienate America's allies while making nice with dictators everywhere (and when I say everywhere, I mean places like North Korea, Birma, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and Russia. Oh I'm sorry, I forgot: Vladimir Putin isn't a dictator, he's the duly elected deputy leader of his country. Just like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad).
That was then, this is now:
U.S. President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for giving the world "hope for a better future" and striving for nuclear disarmament, in a surprise award that drew criticism as well as praise.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." The first African-American to hold his country's highest office, Obama has called for disarmament and worked to restart the stalled Middle East peace process since taking office in January. "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," the committee said in a citation. There were a few sceptical voices who claimed it was too early to award this prize to a man who hasn't really brought any peace anywhere yet. But I'm not one of them. I'm with the Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat who hoped that this award would encourage Obama "to achieve peace in the Middle East." Would be very nice indeed. And if he doesn't? Well, then we'll just have to give him the same Prize again next year. And the year after, and the year after, until peace has finally been achieved - or Obama's time in the White House is up.
In all seriousness: this is complete lunacy, of course. There was a whole host of worthier contenders for this prize, from Zimbabwe's Morgan Tsvangirai to the Green Revolutionaries in Iran. Even Bono would have been a more deserved winner than Obama, who has done precisely zip, zilch, nada, to deserve this award. In his nine short months in office, he has achieved nothing apart from giving a few speeches, befriending a few dictators and alienating a lot of allies. To award such a prestigious prize as a sort of encouragement to perhaps achieve things that would justify the decision after the fact is beyond a joke.
One thing the Committee is right about, though: Obama does give me hope. Hope that on January 20th 2013, we'll finally get some real Change We Can Believe In.
This is the same bunch that relegated Martin Luther King to one of “Holier than Thou” status.
A Nobel Prize for shuckin’ & jivin’. Nice to know it can be so cheaply bought.
Disgraceful.
I bet the Moon voted no.
Greatest single news event of 1938 took place on September 29, when four statesmen met at the Führerhaus, in Munich, to redraw the map of Europe. The three visiting statesmen at that historic conference were Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain, Premier Edouard Daladier of France, and Dictator Benito Mussolini of Italy. But by all odds the dominating figure at Munich was the German host, Adolf Hitler. more...
Frankly, I’m not even PO’d, but rather amused by it. This is the same outfit that awarded Jimmuh Carter, Algore and Yassir the Terrorist Arafat.
The award camr for BOWING DOWN TO THE MUSLIMS!!
I wonder how much lobbying Obama’s troops did to get this “prize”? Did Rahm Emmanuel send the Nobel Committee a dead fish? Giving Obama this prize shows what a total joke the whole Nobel Peace Prize has become. This is even dumber than giving it to Al Gore.
That’s right. It’s his handlers way of bringing healing to his bruised ego. We are witnessing deception at it’s finest.
how does one get nominated for this?
so does this mean we can leave Iraq and Afganistan, and peace will break out?
and, how will it look to the Peace committee, if the One sends more troops....
We woke up to a really dreary morning here, and this just puts the finishing touches on it.
Yep, and it is once again on the Taxpayers dime...or should I say Euro, since the Dollar doesn’t seem to be good to anyone right now...
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