Obama to receive Nobel Peace Prize for not being Bush

[Renfield]

No, you don't need to be a bully, but you have to have balls as a country to be respected- and it makes you wonder if the dictators of the world see Obama as someone who is chopping off America's balls.

If the entire world is one large high school.

Then again, given the way foreign politics is often represented in the media, it very well might be...

[Lilas Pastia]

Angela Merkel has balls (the figurative ones). She's been selected the most powerful woman on the planet by Forbes for the fourth consecutive year - ahead of Condoleezza Rice in 2006 and 2007. Closely aligned to the Western right agenda she has managed to gain respect for her views without ever coming across as shrill (Condo, Bush), obnoxious (Sarkozy) or lunatic (Berlusconi).

The answer is yes, you can be respected without all the huffing and puffing. And yes, a right-wing politician can gain respect from a broad spectrum of people, even if many don't share the agenda. Merkel makes Bush-Cheney, Sarkozy and Berlusconi look like irate, agitated first-graders badly in need of Ritalin.

[The new erato]

lunatic (Berlusconi).

I thought that was pathetic?

[Josquin des Prez]

What else did you expect when you initiated that thread? So far, the only negative comments have come from the USA. Further proof conservatives act according to their own feelings rather than their heads.

The Nobel could have gone - again - to an obscure dissident of a totalitarian regime. Fighting dictature doesn't mean you're a model for world peace efforts. Were the French Resistants worthy of a Nobel? Very brave men and women, but their fight was strictly internal. For many, revenge and deep-seated hatred of the Enemy was their main motivation. The Nobel Committee has recognized vastly different people and organizations over the past 100 years. Struggles big and small have been showcased by the award. Dissenters to the award usually come from the recipient's own country. Just like this year .Obama could have used his energies to advancing his domestic agenda at the expense of foreign policy.  I just don't understand why many Americans are not impressed and proud of the distinction. Rush Limbaugh and his minions lament that Obama wants to 'emasculate' the USA. That bespeaks of a deap-seated inferiority complex. You don't need to look and act like a bully to be respected.

Speaking up for peace with the force and exposure the US presidential office brings is both noble and courageous - quixotic even. Recognizing the formidable impact of the President's words, the Nobel Committee has decided to give his ideas and actions (speeches) a boost. Of course that's political. Big surprise there: can you name ONE Nobel Peace award that could not be labeled political?

I just don't know if i should cry or simply crack my skull against a wall. I just cannot take this type of empty headed drivel anymore. Let me explain something to you. Awards should be based on concrete, actual achievements. To bring hope/change into the world is not a real, concrete achievement. Spreading happy feelings and joy joy is not a real achievement. Speaking out for peace is not a real achievement. Being noble and courageous is not a real achievement. Giving nice speeches that have "stunned the world" is not a real achievement. Being good looking is not a real achievement. Being half black is not a real achievement. What part of all this is beyond your comprehension?

I just don't understand why many Americans are not impressed and proud of the distinction.

Because there's nothing to be impressed and be proud about whatsoever.

[Opus106]

winning a prize for what you might do is like being given a first class degree when you're admitted into university.

Here's something even better. (Or worse)

(via Asymptotia)

[Josquin des Prez]

Here's something even better. (Or worse)

(via Asymptotia)

Ho, good god almighty...  

[flyingdutchman]

Who's the loony again? Giving Obama the Nobel prize because he has spread happy feelings of joy joy is insanity. But of course, as always,
it is the right-wingers who are the crazy ones for blowing a gasket over common sense. Further proof liberals act according to their own feelings rather then their heads.

Obviously you're one of those at CMG who supports a continued idiotic trend toward doing anything to degrade anything Obama has done.


As for us liberals and being from America, I am both and think with my head and my feelings.  The right-wingers are blowing a gasket because they simply cannot stand to see Obama succeed at anything.  One has made it his mission in life to make sure health care is Obama's Waterloo and Rush Limbaugh continues to make a fool out of himself like we all knew he would.  Honestly, do you really want to be associated with someone like Lush Boombox, err Rush Limbaugh?

[flyingdutchman]

Oh, and to bring hope after 8 years of a continued downward spiral is concrete achievement.  It is both measurable and applicable in this case.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Speaking up for peace with the force and exposure the US presidential office brings is both noble and courageous - quixotic even. Recognizing the formidable impact of the President's words, the Nobel Committee has decided to give his ideas and actions (speeches) a boost. Of course that's political. Big surprise there: can you name ONE Nobel Peace award that could not be labeled political?

I'm not particularly upset by this choice, but that's only because I've never taken the Peace Prize seriously.

As others have mentioned, though, prizes should be given for actual achievement, not just for being "a breath of fresh air." Obama's foreign policy is actually only slightly different from Bush's, as pointed out here:

The Nobel Committee has awarded the 2009 Peace Prize to President Obama, the person who started a new war in Pakistan, upped the war in Afghanistan, and continues to threaten Iran with attack unless Iran does what the US government demands and relinquishes its rights as a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty...No Bush policy has changed. Iraq is still occupied. The Guantánamo torture prison is still functioning. Rendition and assassinations are still occurring. Spying on Americans without warrants is still the order of the day.

http://original.antiwar.com/roberts/2009/10/09/the-nobel-war-prize/

That's Paul Craig Roberts. He may be intemperate, but is he wrong?

As for the argument that it was worth giving this award because Limbaugh & Co. would blow a gasket, that is entertaining, but irrelevant.

[knight66]

JDP,

Since you recently re-edited a post that I altered, as it broke the rules about name calling, I have instead just deleted the post in which you refer to someone as a hypocrite.

Such posts will now disappear rather than be edited and then give you the opportunity to replace it as originally worded.

Knight

[Herman]

Being half black is not a real achievement.

Looking at the history of the USA, and looking at the drivel that's being spouted since Inauguration (among others by you), I think it's only fair to say being black and US president at the same time is a huge achievement, not just of one individual, but the entire electorate.

[Joe_Campbell]

As for the argument that it was worth giving this award because Limbaugh & Co. would blow a gasket, that is entertaining, but irrelevant.

Well, jjs has already admitted that he/she thinks Obama deserved the award for "concrete" and "measureable" hope increases. How does one gage the hope of a nation, or planet? Thermometer? Hopemeter?

[greg]

The right-wingers are blowing a gasket because they simply cannot stand to see Obama succeed at anything.

I don't know about everyone, but I think a lot of them really would like to see him succeed at improving the situation of America. The thing is, he hasn't really succeeded at much- yet. If he's able to completely turn around the economy and stop/prevent wars, that'd be great, and he'd deserve the prize.

Well, jjs has already admitted that he/she thinks Obama deserved the award for "concrete" and "measureable" hope increases. How does one gage the hope of a nation, or planet? Thermometer? Hopemeter?

"Hopemeter?" 

[Lilas Pastia]

Well, jjs has already admitted that he/she thinks Obama deserved the award for "concrete" and "measureable" hope increases. How does one gage the hope of a nation, or planet? Thermometer? Hopemeter?

No scientific measurement tool exists, I'm afraid. We still have to resort to old empirical measures, such as reading foreign newspapers.

[Lilas Pastia]

According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize is to go to whoever "shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses"

From the Nobel Institute's website.

In that respect, how do you measure up to those requirements? I'm afraid 'concrete achievements' are not sine qua non for being a recipient (do I hear the noise of a cracking skull ?). If that was the case, half of the honorees would never have received it. A speech is just a bunch of words put together, but the person who delivers it, the way, place and time may - just *may* - have a certain impact. IMO, Obama's words certainly qualify fo "the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses'.

Any other candidates for 2009? THAT would be an interesting thread....

[Todd]

I was surprised when I heard it, and now that it's been a couple days since the announcement, the silliness of the choice is clear.  As already pointed out, Obama hasn't really done a whole lot other than give speeches.  Speeches can apparently still stir some people, and perhaps they can really have an impact.  I'm very doubtful.

Yes, he has started the withdrawal from Iraq, though even that won't be total.  Beyond that, though, he hasn't made much progress on Iran.  Well, perhaps the newest 30,000 lb "bunker  buster" bomb that could supposedly wipe out the installation near Qom, per Pentagon crowing, is progress.  He's pondering just how big of a force to keep in Afghanistan.  He's going to keep Guantanamo open longer than promised, and then he'll continue to hold people without charge elsewhere.  He has continued and even stepped up covert military efforts in Pakistan and other countries (eg, the raid in Somalia to kill Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan), all as part of the war on terror, or whatever it's called now.  That doesn't strike me as peaceful.  I suppose he has pulled back from the land-based "missile shield" (possibly to get Russian support for sanctions against Iran?  Nah, that's cynical), but his administration is proposing a mobile, ship-based shield that will supposedly protect an even larger geographic area from some missile threat.  I question how peaceful that is.  Another plus is how relatively quiet things have been with North Korea for the past few weeks.  Another negative is his relative lack of action on reducing the use of PMCs. 

This peace prize is the ultimate example of rewarding form over substance.  It's understandable in some ways I guess, but it's also unfortunate.

[Florestan]

IMO, Obama's words certainly qualify fo "the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses'.

If words stand for work and speeches stand for actions, then great and irreparable injustice has been done by the Nobel Peace Committee to Nicolae Ceausescu , Romania's Communist dictator whose five-hour-long speeches on peace, disarmament and fraternity far exceed anything Obama has ever said.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

If words stand for work and speeches stand for actions, then great and irreparable injustice has been done by the Nobel Peace Committee to Nicolae Ceausescu , Romania's Communist dictator whose five-hour-long speeches on peace, disarmament and fraternity far exceed anything Obama has ever said.

At least Ceausescu got a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth, so I don't think he has cause to complain.

By the way, I think Castro's speeches are even longer.

[Florestan]

At least Ceausescu got a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth

And the Legion d'honneur from Charles de Gaulle, to the everlasting shame of both.

By the way, I think Castro's speeches are even longer.

Good point.

[Lilas Pastia]

The Economics Nobel Prize has been attributed to Oliver Williamson and Elinor Ostrom. Their work is very much in line with a rethinking of traditionally accepted models. Like Obama's Peace Prize, maybe.

...

Not to belittle the world's Little Caesars' local influence, but I think the Prez of the USA has more clout and is given more international audience than any one of them. BTW, don't forget that Hitler, Mussolini and Staline were all nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. IIRC, they were famous for their rousing speeches too... To the defence of the Nobel Committee, it should be noted that anyone can send a nomination. I wonder if Kadhafi ever got one?

Gandhi was nominated a number of years in the 30s and 40s, but was obviously blocked from receiving it thanks to the English government's diplomatic pressure. It is widely believed that the Dalai Lama received it in 1989 in part as a belated recognition of Gandhi's concrete achievements. The DL's brand of peacemaking was largely inspired by the Mahatma's teachings. I wonder what the Nobel Committee thought of his concrete achievements, though? It seems to me Gandhi's were more substantial and material.

................

Another De Gaulle légionnaire was Maurice Papon. The Légion has been awarded to some 115000 persons since Napoleon founded the Order in 1802 ... Among them Manuel Noriega. I guess every Emperor, King and President since 1802 would share everlasting shame for some of their choices...