The question is why didn't he get the Olympics.
The story of Barack Obama is the story of winning things when he hasn't yet done enough to deserve them. He is, quite simply, Barack Obama. We understand that. Why didn't the IOC understand? You could see it in that smile on his face, when he concluded his little speech in Copenhagen, that he bore the sublime knowledge he would acquire the Olympics for Chicago. Because he is Barack Obama, the man to whom grand prizes are given.
Last Friday, it was so disconcerting. It just didn't make sense. Chicago is out?! Chicago is out?! And now, things feel right again. Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Obama has received a Nobel Prize for just for being Obama. Momma always said you were a special boy!
The trifecta: Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Barack Obama. How the mighty have fallen.
Mommy wasn't around to say it. His racist white grandmother said that to him, and sent him to prestigious private schools to try and make it true.
Affirmative Action President Wins Affirmative Action Nobel Peace Prize.
No accomplishment necessary.
If real life were a Hollywood show biz biopic, then last Friday would have been when he hit bottom.
BHO gets the Nobel Peace Prize. Yeah, that’s about right.
He’s been in office 9 whole months; and he’s managed to offend most of our allies, appease and bow and scrape to those who despise us, make dangerously naïve speeches about unilateral nuclear disarmament while our enemies actively seek nuclear arms, and piss off the Dalai Llama.
He’s just as deserving as Al Gore, who won for saving us from the post-apocalyptic hell that we faced as a result of Global Warming; and Jimmy Carter, who won for bringing us peace in the Middle East; and Yasser Arafat, who won for…killing just a few Jews, not ALL of them? (Seriously, why did Arafat win a Peace Prize?)
Has some kind of virus that attacks the brain gone global?
This just seems silly. For nuclear disarmament? What?
Good thing that creepy Ghandi guy never won a Nobel Peace prize. So unworthy.....
Nobel Committee also awarded Obama a medal foe beating Axelrod in a game of HORSE.
In the future, everyone will get the Nobel Peace prize for 15 minutes.
Forget that this involved Barack Obama the man or the president.
The issue here is why someone got arguably the civilized worlds highest-profile individual achievement award...for the promises of achievements to come.
Since there's money that goes along with each award, please let me forward the following:
I promise to design and build a faster-than-light spacecraft. At the very least I will inspire hope in mathematicians. I demand the Nobel Prize for physics.
I promise to cure the common cold. At the very least I will inspire hope in medical researchers. I demand the Nobel Prize for medicine.
I promise to write the next masterpiece novel. I demand the Nobel Prize for literature.
Glibness aside...what has President Obama done to deserve this award that anyone can point to and say...this is better because of him, the man?
Did they award it to President Obama, the man? Or did they award to the U.S. for electing a black guy and just had to put someone's name on the check?
Very puzzling. What I'm saying is that this puts him in the same boat with Ghandi and the Dali Lama, does it not? Two people with serious street cred visa vi peace.
If anyone can point to concrete achievements that President Obama is directly responsible for, I would certainly reconsider my point of view on the matter.
As someone mentioned on another blog (which I haven't checked out) the nominations for the prize were due two weeks after he became president. So they are really awarding him the prize for his wonderful efforts to make himself president and the nice party he threw in DC on inauguration day. And maybe the new drapes in the Lincoln bedroom.
Cause he hadn't gotten the dog yet.
I, for one, say that it's about time that this great statesman be honored for his body of work, promoting peace in the world.
And you Rethuglicans show your true racist colors now, by criticizing this award. Maybe you just think that a BLACK man shouldn't be given $1.4 million, because he'll just blow it on fried chicken and malt liquor? That's it, isn't it, Althouse hillbillies?
Maybe you think that Chimpy McHitlerBurton would be more deserving? After all, look at what he did to Iraq; they're awfully peaceful now, after we murdered millions of them, plowing their bodies into mass graves with Halliburton bulldozers.
Obama/Pelosi 2012!!! Obama/Ayres 2016!!! Obama/Moore 2020!!!eleventy!!
If anyone can point to concrete achievements that President Obama is directly responsible for, I would certainly reconsider my point of view on the matter
Actually I was looking for the concrete achievements that Senator Obama was responsible for that qualified him for the Presidency. Evidently skin color and listening to goddam America for 20 years appear to be adequate qualifications for both the Presidency and the Nobel Peace Prize.
Wow. That Beer Summit with that professor and the cop who arrested him paid off, big time.
I was wondering if the Pope would cannonize home for sainthood but come to think of it, that might be considered a demotion.
Michael -- I'd completely forgotten that triumph of diplomacy. Thanks for helping me keep these racist wingnuts honest.
What say you to that one, wingnuts? I don't remember Bushitler bringing people with such disparate views (one with wheat beer, the other with bitter imported lager) together like that.
Duh.
Is this some sort of joke?
That's all I can think.
I am left scratching my head. But here's my favorite scenario.
The scene: Oslo Norway.
The place: The Nobel Awards Ceremony
Cut to the action: ...and the Nobel Prize for Peace goes to (pause) Barack Hussein Obama
Cut to announcer: Barack Obama could not be here tonight, accepting in his place will be former President George W. Bush.
I mean, this award is nothing more than a big FU to Bush, right?
@Michael H
Hahahah, well spotted. I forgot about the beer summit! It all makes sense now.
The Nobel folks loves them some bowin' and scrapin'.
I woke up and checked Facebook and a friend wrote "Congratulations Mr. President" and I thought, oh crap, did they pass some health care bill in the middle of the night?
So I was relieved that it was just this, insane as it is. I even broke my "no politics on facebook" rule to ask my (pro-obama) friend if she didn't think this was a bit soon.
"I mean, this award is nothing more than a big FU to Bush, right?"
Apparently
Borrowing from my own blog:
You've Got To Be Kidding Me!
Apparently not. The Nobel Peace Prize, already awarded to reprobates like Jimmy Carter and Yassir Arafat, has hit a new low. The eggheads in Oslo have awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama, for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." Note that the deadline for the award nomination was February 1st, meaning that the fledgling president had been in office for a grand total of 11 days.
Don't you remember all of the totally awesome stuff he did in those 11 days? He brought peace to the Middle East and established a Palestinian state that now lives in harmony with Israel, he ended the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he got North Korea and Iran to end their nuclear programs, he persuaded China to end their occupation of Tibet and allow the Dalai Lama to return home, he convinced the Russians to pull out of Georgia and stop menacing their neighbors, and he got every nation in the world to give up all of their nuclear weapons and promise to use nuclear energy for only peaceful purposes from now on. Gosh, he did so much in those 11 days that he was the only possible choice for the...
Wait a minute! You mean to tell me that he didn't do ANY of those things? You mean to tell me that even almost nine months into his term, he still hasn't done any of those things? You mean those wacky Svensk fellows just gave him the award because of his complete and total awesomeness, not because of anything he actually DID?
You mean to tell me that they gave an empty award to an empty suit of a president for his empty accomplishments over 11 days? Yup, that's exactly what they did. How appropriate. But I guess that $1.4 million will spend the same either way, deserved or not.
If there was any justice in the world, Stevie Wonder would be at the award ceremony to sing "You Haven't Done Nothing."
Now I get it!
Apparently he cemented peace by destroying the US economy.
The World Economic Forum has just ranked the U.S. financial stability 38th and currency stability 50th. (see page 12)
Mexico is 14th.
The Czech Republic is 16th.
Nigeria is 29th.
Panama is 35th.
And he won your vote for nothing too.
Trey
I can say with all certainty that this was the last thing I expected to see when I woke up this morning.
The Nobel Prize is a travesty. It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.
Oct 6, 2009 ... A US Defense Department request to speed up a "bunker-buster" bomb hints at a possible attack on Iranian nuclear plants.
Nothing says Peace Prize like big bombs.
So everyone gasped? Yeah, I was saying WTF, too.
Somewhere near DC, Chris Matthews just peed in his jammies. And Rachel Maddow fantasized, albeit briefly, about having sex with an important and powerful man.
I wish the committee would first focus on people who make efforts to rid the world of coventional explosives (say, dynamite), then worry about nukes (which require conventional explosives to detonate). First things first.
"Nothing says Peace Prize like big bombs."
Or war crimes, suspension of habeas corpus, shredding the Constitution, etc.
I'm with Kaus, the only thing Obama can do that seems even remotely sensible is turn down the award.
I wonder which Presidential face is expendable on Mt. Rushmore?
The fix is in all over the world to support the Fifth columnist President as he destroys the once mighty USA and lets the world nations assert themselves...which always leads to wars all over the place. The unrestrained human ego in political operators is indeed in full bloom leading the world to a worldwide deaths by ethnic wars thus leading to famines thus leading to death by plagues among those weakened from starvation humans everywhere. Over Population threats asks the UN's Dr Strangeloves? No problemo soon. Then there will be a new age of Obama-Peace where being alive itelf has been redistributed to the favored ones all over the earth. Ergo, Obama gets the Peace Prize in advance of the new dawing of the day of destruction and death for the current overpopulation. No wonder our news media is begging to be among the favored governmental staff. They are not idiots.
Previous winners have had long records of accomplishment to qualify them. You might not agree with those accomplishments (e.g., Yasser Arafat), but at least they did something.
Now Obama gets the prize just for being fabulous.
I think this will actually turn out to be an embarrassment. It so perfectly makes the case that O's presidency is turning into a Cult of Personality. At this point even his devotees in the MSM may blush at the fulsomeness of the hymns of praise.
Face it, Obama won the Nobel for his seeming willingness to throw Israel under the bus.
And to think that I really believed they could never pick anyone who had done less for world peace than Al Gore.
Boy they fooled me.
This is like getting a gold medal in the Rio Olympics before the race and then finishing last with a limp. What a joke.
Jimmy Carter, Yassar Arafat, Al Gore, and now Barry.
A terrorist-supporting anti-Semite, a terrorist, a buffoon, and an empty-suit socialist.
It's official, we live in Bizzaro Universe.
Well, this is too obvious but is has to be said, "Barack Hussein Obama, hmmm,hmmm,hmmm!"
I'm with Kaus, the only thing Obama can do that seems even remotely sensible is turn down the award.
That would be perfect. First Black President. First person to turn down a Peace Prize. My estimation of Obama would really increase if he turned the prize down.
My estimation of Obama would really increase if he turned the prize down.
Well he's making a statement at 10:30 Eastern so I suppose we'll see. I agree, anyone with even a modicum of humility would be telling the committee, thanks guys but there are more deserving folks.
Alas, I'm guessing we'll all be regaled with some heartstring tugging tale about his grandma or some bullshit.
Two things:
1. They felt badly about not giving him the olympics
2. There are fame-struck groupies on the committee who couldn't think of any other way to meet their new heartthrob.
Honestly, this is just about the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.
Considering the nominations closed in February, they've essentially given him the prize for his first two weeks in office!
Truly...we live in interesting times.
Honestly...I'd rather not.
Anybody know what the current exchange rate is dollars:ameros?
What the world needs now is another speech by Obama.
@ Pogo --
"... like I need a hole in my head..."
Ok, without reading the news stories or the Nobel press release, can anybody say exactly what Obama actually did to earn this?
Anybody?
what a fucking joke
Even the resident liberal trolls are not out to defend this.
Because really, it's an honor just to be nominated.
If Obama does not turn down the award, he and the Nobel Prize will be punchlines for years, whenever someone is awarded something that they don't really deserve.
The Leno/Letterman/SNL/O'Brien joke writers woke up to the news and pumped their fists into the air in rejoice.
It will look good next to the Heisman Trophy he will win this December.
can a sitting president keep the prize money? doesn't it belong to the people of the u.s. by law?
Even the resident liberal trolls are not out to defend this.
They're still in bed.
Madison Man is right. The Nobel committee wants to give GWB one last kick in the nuts, which is as petty and self-defeating as you'd expect from these clowns.
They've turned their own award into a punchline.
Just saw on the news that the Palestinians are throwing rocks at the Israelis in Jerusalem. Somebody get our Nobel Peace Prize designate on the phone to go over there and fix things!
"There's no need to fear! Obama-dog is here!"
WV: copul -- all it's missing is the 8!
If Obama does not turn down the award, he and the Nobel Prize will be punchlines for years, whenever someone is awarded something that they don't really deserve.
Actually MM, for some, the Nobel Prize became a joke when it was awarded Yassir Arafat. When a terrorist can win, it kinda loses its luster for clear thinking people.
"He’s been in office 9 whole months; and he’s managed to offend most of our allies, appease and bow and scrape to those who despise us, make dangerously naïve speeches about unilateral nuclear disarmament while our enemies actively seek nuclear arms, and piss off the Dalai Llama."
I think this award decision undermines the significance of the Nobel itself--after all, what has Obama actually done to deserve this?--he hasn't withdrawn us from our two wars abroad, in fact he is repeating alarmist (and false) Bush rhetoric about the danger of Iran "seeking the bomb," he hasn't pursued investigations of war crimes against members of the last administration, he hasn't rescinded any of Bush's policies, hasn't terminated the policy of indefinite detention, he hasn't...well, he hasn't done shit, except continue the policies of his predecessor, albeit more soothingly deceptive spin as to what he's doing.
That said, how has he offended "most of our allies?" How do you know the Dalai Llama is "pissed off?" (Mind you, I do think it was cowardly of Obama to refuse to meet with the dude, but is he pissed off?) Whom has he "appeased," and how? What "enemies" of ours "actively seek nuclear arms?" (Trick question: I know you're referring to Iran, but, of couse, there is no evidence, Obama's shameful dissembling and the media's parroting of this establishment hogwash notwithstanding, that Iran is seeking nuclear arms.)
While there is much to criticize in Obama's performance so far, you're simply grasping at a clutch of miscellaneous smears you've probably heard from others, smears that don't even come close to describing the real failings of Obama.
At last the Dodo said, ‘everybody has won, and all must have prizes.’"
-Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Aha suckers! Barack wins again!
He has vowed to pursue a world without nuclear weapons...
You mean he got it just because he vowed? Hell, I spent a good 10 minutes actually visualizing world peace. Where's my fucking prize?!?
can a sitting president keep the prize money? doesn't it belong to the people of the u.s. by law?
I was wondering what the ethics on that are, since it seems a little inappropriate. I mean, regular government employees aren't allowed to accept gifts over 25 bucks or something. 1 million is no joke.
"The question is why didn't he get the Olympics."
I missed this before. You're right, professor. The Nobel Peace Prize has been reduced by it's minders to the status of a consolation prize.
... Well, that's better than it being a prize given before achievement, isn't it?
Was pricless hearing about this on NPR. I pictured the newsreader being so stiff he couldn't stand up.
If the press were honest, this would be today's headline:
"Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize, then orders attack on the Moon"
Kaus is wrong. Only an idiot would turn down a Nobel. It's not like the peace prize means all that much. OH NO!!! now that Obama has cheapened the prize there goes peace. On the other hand, should people be able to try and influence a sitting US President with a 1.4 million dollar donation?
Another argues that it will reinforce Obama's efforts to push Israel and the Palestinians to the next stage of the peace negotiations. The Prize "adds moral authority" to the President's efforts, and it strengthens his hand with Congress and the country.
"Americans want to be loved," he said.
White House Reactions. Gah!!
Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, the peace prize is quite different. Often times it isn't because someone has "done" something. Instead, it's given in politically sensitive situations to help move things along toward peace -- to people engaged in that effort.
Now, go back to your screaming.
Oh, Good Lord. What a joke.
nina--
"According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who 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."
Now, tell me, when did Obama accomplish any of this? And you, a law professor?
Ha. I figured the commentariat wouldn't be able to sit still.
Barack Obama is the Fred Lynn of world politics.
The Nobel Peace Prize became a joke when it went to Henry Kissinger.
The only joke with Arafat was that it was awarded the second time for peace in the Middle East -- something we have yet to have. Let's start a one conflict/one NPP rule. Or, they could make a special Nobel for peace in the Middle East, and award it every year, like the Stanley Cup.
Al Gore only has half a Peace Prize for his climate change work.
The story of Barack Obama is the story of winning things when he hasn't yet done enough to deserve them.
Althouse is just mad because she was disdainful when Obama got a black man and a white man to have a beer together. Obviously others can see the greatness of this achievement.
UNbelievable.
Gore, Carter and Obama won because they were not Bush and for no other reason.
Next year...medicine, economics?
I've received praise before that I didn't deserve. I have found it to be intensely embarrassing. I wonder what Obama's feeling.
I wonder which Presidential face is expendable on Mt. Rushmore?
All of them. We need the space for Obama's ego.
Bizarro World has arrived.
all your nobel are belong to us!
"to the person who 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."
I'd say Obama did the most and the best work this year to improve relations between the Muslim world and the West, even if it meant pressuring Israel to live up to its signed agreements. And this gives him the authority to push Iran to stop nuclear weapons development.
he’s managed to offend most of our allies
Our allies all seem to be very happy with the Big O. Israel didn't like being taken to task, but eight years of W.'s unquestioning support failed to increase the peace.
I'm sure that the UK was able to find a region-free DVD player, by the way.
FLS - Barack Obama is the Fred Lynn of world politics.
Are you kidding me? Fred Lynn was awesome, especially his 1979 season.
Obama'S more like the Clint Hurdle of world politics. All hype, no production.
This has been Obamas problem all his life and why he is such a nothing as far as actually accomplishing anything: He keeps getting lauded for doing nothing.
The purpose of this prize is to influence Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan--to shame him into it. It is corruption pure and simple.
This prize makes sense if peace = surrender.
So, who do you think nominated Obama? Michelle or Barack?
Although it is natural to feel some animus toward someone getting something for nothing, I think it makes sense to be pragmatic about this. We have a great platform for a sitting president to promote US interests.
New resonance to the word "precatory."
I'd say Obama did the most and the best work this year to improve relations between the Muslim world and the West,
Well I would say a more respectable accomplishment would have been if that work resulted in the Muslim world joining the 21st century, politically and socially (hell I'd settle for the 17th century) as opposed to just telling them how shitty we've been.
The only joke with Arafat was that it was awarded the second time for peace in the Middle East -- something we have yet to have. Let's start a one conflict/one NPP rule. Or, they could make a special Nobel for peace in the Middle East, and award it every year, like the Stanley Cup.
Heh!
The online English-to-Norwegian translator I found does not recognize the word beclown.
Once Israel is gone peace will reign. That must have been their thinking.
Obama receiving the Nobel Peace prize makes as much sense as Andrew Sullivan receiving a Pulitzer prize for investigative gynecology.
It will look good next to the Heisman Trophy he will win this December.
:-)
Thought the award is puzzling, I’d agree with Chris that there is an upside to this. It does give him/us a platform to promote US interests. And I’d also add, it’s abundantly clear to me that the world has a very different perspective on this than we do – as they should.
When I opened the Los Angeles Times website this morning and saw the headline, the first thought that went through my mind was that I had opened The Onion's website by mistake.
"Thought the award is puzzling, I’d agree with Chris that there is an upside to this. It does give him/us a platform to promote US interests."
hmm, youd think being PRESIDENT OF THE FUCKING UNITED STATES would be platform enough to promote our interests.
"Instead, it's given in politically sensitive situations to help move things along toward peace -- to people engaged in that effort."
yes, because being PRESIDENT OF THE FUCKING UNITED STATES apparently isnt motivation enough for dear barry.
so how will a medal on barrys mantel and a million bucks help promote this thing called "peace"? and what is this "peace" anyway? increasingly it seems like the desired peace is the peace of the grave for the united states and israel.
Peace = submission.
It's a Muslim thing - you wouldn't understand.
Robert Cook, at 8:15: You're taking me to task for not citing evidence that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons?
Really?
And you're not familiar with the numerous snubs and insults delivered to our allies? And you don't recall Obama literally bowing to the Saudis? And you think that the Dalai Llama (an actual legitimate NPP winner) wanted to be snubbed?
Jesus Christ, you people are no longer worth the effort. You try to reduce every argument to a slog through mud, demanding supporting links for the obvious, while inventing your own facts from whole cloth.
And by the way: I've nominated you for the Asshat of the Year Award. Good luck; I hear that Obama's in the running for that one, too.
It does give him/us a platform to promote US interests.
If only it also gave him the commitment to promote US interests.
Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm lovin' the comments here of the tongue-in-cheek, put-on tag-team duo that is "ObamaNation." Check out their blogger profile--quite the combo.
Nobel Prize Committee: Irene Sendler was a piker. Gore, Carter, Arafat & Obama are real manly men.
Agreed, ObamaNation wins this thread.
President Barely gets the Nobel Peace Prize? Ha. Heh-heh, no, really, your just fucking with me now, hehehehe, seriously? HA!!! HAHAHAHA!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! roflmao x eleventy1!!!!11!!!!
How is it possible that the Nobel Committee just hamstrung a President of the United States? Obama is seriously fucked in the head if he thinks they gave it to him because A) He's actually done anything to promote peace anywhere. Chicago is a shining example of that right? or B) That he's done anything remotely characterized as substantive to promoting peace anywhere.
So now that he is the paragon of peace, it looks like anything he does or is perceived as being not that of promoting peace will turn him into a hypocrite. They just took the Little Black Jesus and painted him into a corner in one fail swoop. His own leftism has just been played against him. These people are the most devious and sinister lot that has ever existed. I mean afterall, Arafat got a peace prize too right? Oy Vey.
holdfast said...
Islam = Peace = submission.
It's a Muslim thing - you wouldn't understand.
Corrected for accuracy.
Why are you such haters? He's done so much to deserve this prize. He's made us loved again. And love makes the world go 'round.
j/k, folks. I mean, if the Nobel Prize committee can make a joke, so can I!
Old Mike: I've received praise before that I didn't deserve. I have found it to be intensely embarrassing. I wonder what Obama's feeling.
I do not believe that Barack Obama has the ability to feel embarassment (much less "intense" embarrassment) for undeserved praise. I haven't noticed it in the things I have read, or the things I have heard, or the things I have seen demonstrated about or by Barack Obama.
K*thy:
It does give him/us a platform to promote US interests.
I'm with el hombre on this one. I totally do not have a sense that Barack Obama WANTS to promote US interests.
He appears very much to want to divest the US of any interests.
It is a natural outflow of his driving need to "spread the wealth" around, and redistribute income. If you think he is just thinking of redistributing it around the US, (which is offensive enough), reality check: he is thinking of the WORLD.
"Walk softly and carry a big stick" has been replaced with "Don't bother doing anything but just have a big schtick!"
Tibore:
The bombing of the moon was justified.
The moon was the aggressor.
WV greessee
No water, just oily residue from the detonated bomb
This post made my day. Thanks!
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