Althouse: Riddle: Why didn't Barack Obama win the Nobel Prize for Literature?

October 9, 2009

Riddle: Why didn't Barack Obama win the Nobel Prize for Literature?

Answer: He wrote 2 books.

59 comments:

KCFleming said...: Truly a performance art presidency.; 10/9/09, 7:11 AM
Bissage said...: Now, that's a world-class kicker!; 10/9/09, 7:12 AM
Prosecutorial Indiscretion said...: The rest of the world is convinced that he's *that much* like Jimmy Carter that he should receive all the same recognitions immediately.; 10/9/09, 7:12 AM
Peter V. Bella said...: The prize is given for literature not boiler plate, formulaic trade fiction.; 10/9/09, 7:12 AM
MC said...: Hahahah, very witty.; 10/9/09, 7:12 AM
MadisonMan said...: I'd love it if he started his acceptance speech by thanking them for appreciating the fine literature in his two books.; 10/9/09, 7:17 AM
my15minutes said...: There also has to be some significance to the fact that Obama wins the prize on the day that the US bombs the freaking moon.; 10/9/09, 7:41 AM
my15minutes said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/9/09, 7:42 AM
Unknown said...: He didn't win the Nobel Prize for Literature because he didn't write his books. If they did award him the literature prize, though, do you think he'd share with Bill Ayers?; 10/9/09, 7:45 AM
ObamaNation said...: Real answer to your riddle:

(Do I need to say it?)

Racism, straight up.

President Obama should have won both the literature and the peace prize. The only reason that he didn't was the fact that those whiter-than-white Norwegians (really, you can't get any more white than Norwegians) were blinded by their own race-hatred.; 10/9/09, 7:51 AM
lucid said...: They didn't want to give him two prizes in the same year. The Afirmative Action Nobel for Literature will go to Obama next year.

wv: sesesse--the sound Al Gore made when he read the news this morning.; 10/9/09, 7:52 AM
brother-john said...: Not diluting his U.N. speech with pesky real world problems paid off. Take that Sarkosky!; 10/9/09, 7:56 AM
Unknown said...: That one almost sent coffee out my nose. Bravo, Ann. :); 10/9/09, 7:57 AM
Skipper50 said...: Wouldn't it be more accurate for the punchline to read: he published two books?; 10/9/09, 7:59 AM
Bob_R said...: Why not the prize for medicine? He's going to cure all out health problems?

Why not the prize for physics? He's going to stop global warming, turn the tides?

Carter on steroids; 10/9/09, 8:00 AM
Anonymous said...: He won the "peace" prize due to his efforts to weaken America economically and militarily. So, why didn't he win the prize in medicine for his efforts to destroy the U.S. healthcare system?; 10/9/09, 8:03 AM
AllenS said...: Don't give them any ideas, Professor.; 10/9/09, 8:05 AM
weffiewonj said...: He should not be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for the two books he HAS written. He should receive the award for the books for the books he MIGHT write in the future. He's just the kind of writer and peacemakers the committees should encourage.
If he took a stab at physics, he'd have some promise there too, so I expect a nomination soon.; 10/9/09, 8:05 AM
KCFleming said...: "So, why didn't he win the prize in medicine for his efforts to destroy the U.S. healthcare system?"

Mayo unit no longer to accept Medicare.
"One of the Mayo Clinic's two family-medicine practices in Arizona soon will stop accepting Medicare, leaving thousands of patients to pay out of pocket for routine doctor's visits or find a new physician.

Hospital officials called the new policy a "two-year pilot program" and said Thursday that the changes are necessary because of low Medicare reimbursement rates.

"This is just a primary-care problem," said Dr. R. Scott Gorman, vice chairman of the executive-operations team at Mayo Clinic of Arizona. "We're trying to look at ways to make it more sustainable."

The family-practice office at 20199 N. 75th Ave. in Glendale lists about 3,000 Medicare patients among its regular clientele. Letters detailing the changes went out this week.

Gorman said Medicare reimbursement rates have remained stagnant over the past decade, while inflation for medical services has increased 4 percent to 8 percent annually."; 10/9/09, 8:06 AM
Michael McNeil said...: There also has to be some significance to the fact that Obama wins the prize on the day that the US bombs the freaking moon.

This meme is sooo stooopid. The Moon is a dead airless world with a surface area the size of Asia, which is covered with millions of holes that various bodies crashing into it (some enormous) have gouged out over the ages. All this particular impact of the LCROSS mission has done (it's now occurred; note that no explosives were involved) is excavate one more very small (∼20 meters in diameter versus 3 meters deep) crater.

Nor is this anything new: numerous other spacecraft have slammed into the Moon before. For instance, NASA crashed a number of Ranger probes onto the Moon during the 60's (here's a movie clip one can watch of Ranger 9's approach and impact); each of the upper stages of the Apollo landers were dropped onto the Moon after delivering their occupants back to their respective Command Module, while various other craft have impacted that world over the years.

This is just one more such, whose important purpose is to identify whether water ice exists in those perpetually shadowed (and extremely cold: among the coldest places in the Solar System, some −250° C) craters near the lunar poles.

That seems eminently worthwhile to me, and all the hand-wringing and screeching about it we're seeing is just absurd.; 10/9/09, 8:17 AM
MagicalPat said...: They had to give him the prize now because they won't be able to give it to him later.; 10/9/09, 8:20 AM
K T Cat said...: Hilaaaarious!; 10/9/09, 8:24 AM
caseym54 said...: Reagan ends the Cold War, gets zip. Obama talks about his hopes, wins Prize.

Shall we ask Nancy what she thinks?; 10/9/09, 8:31 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Can Bill Ayers and Barack Obama both win it together?; 10/9/09, 8:31 AM
caseym54 said...: Medicine is next year.; 10/9/09, 8:34 AM
Shanna said...: There also has to be some significance to the fact that Obama wins the prize on the day that the US bombs the freaking moon.

This meme is sooo stooopid.

I don’t think anybody really cares that we are doing something with a crater, but it is sort of funny from a narrative point of view. Obama wins peace prize for bombing the moon. Hee.; 10/9/09, 8:35 AM
rhhardin said...: Armstrong and Getty wonder why Obama didn't try sanctions on the moon first.; 10/9/09, 8:36 AM
lucid said...: @Ann:
Actually (!!!!!), you're unfair. I think they're planning two Nobels in Lit, one for each book, over the next two years. Plus an award in the following year for a new category: The Nobel Prize for Telepromptering Words Written by a 27 Year Old.; 10/9/09, 8:38 AM
caseym54 said...: If you believe the press reports, only Ahmedinejad and Islamic Jihad seem to be against this.; 10/9/09, 8:41 AM
LoafingOaf said...: Okay, props to Althouse for having the funniest reaction on the Internet this morning.

I can see this will be another Friday (like last week's Olympic thing) where the Obama bashing will be turned up a notch.

But, outside of the Republican bubble, lots of people like Obama and do feel hope from him. So they wanted to give him a peace prize to encourage him.

I can understand that more than I can understand all the right wingers who have already declared him the worst prez ever. Or, as I read on InstaPundit the other day, the worst head of state in the Americas since Montezuma. Michelle Malkin waited about 3 days before she began penning her book condemning the corruption of the Obama administration.

Did Obama deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. No. But it was given with good intentions from people who wanna see him do wonderful things for peace in the world, want him to focus on those things, and are relieved to be rid of Bush and Cheney. It shows the world still cares about America and was quite worried about us when they saw a country they thought better of as the "leader of the free world" destroying its reputation on the world's stage, descending into torture, and so forth.

That's better than the spirit of right wingers who applauded when Chicago didn't get the Olympics just because they want Obama to be a failed president.

Anyway, enjoy your day of bashing Obama, folks. I wish the president the best as he seeks to advance peace in the world, and hope he lives up to today's award.; 10/9/09, 8:45 AM
Balfegor said...: Re: McNeil:

That seems eminently worthwhile to me, and all the hand-wringing and screeching about it we're seeing is just absurd.

I suspect most of the people "criticising" lunar bombardment are not seriously criticising the idea of bombing the moon. They're just making fun of Obama -- it's mock criticism. The appropriate response is not huffy outrage, but amusement.; 10/9/09, 8:46 AM
Anonymous said...: "President Obama is now the favorite for American League Cy Young for his first pitch at the All-Star Game."

Hilarious twitter post from DJMTwo.; 10/9/09, 8:48 AM
KCFleming said...: "Did Obama deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. No. But it was given with good intentions from people who wanna see him do wonderful things for peace in the world"

Good Intentions, meet The Road To Hell.
Road To Hell, Good Intentions.; 10/9/09, 8:52 AM
Henry said...: lots of people like Obama and do feel hope from him. So they wanted to give him a peace prize to encourage him.

I want a few of them prizes to give to my kids. Encourage them and whatnot.; 10/9/09, 8:54 AM
LoafingOaf said...: Judging by all the stuff on TV about this this morning, it seems they made a good choice to get people talking about both peace and their prize.; 10/9/09, 8:56 AM
KCFleming said...: Voltaire thought that “it is useful from time to time to kill one admiral in order to encourage the others.”; 10/9/09, 9:00 AM
David said...: LoafingOaf - there's no Obama bashing in this, only Nobel committee bashing, and with due respect, you're making the point for us. The Peace Prize is supposed to go to a person who has furthered the cause of peace, not someone that we feel all hopey about maybe making peace somewhere in the future (otherwise Miss America would be a contender every year, heh). It's about accomplishment. Even with Carter, it wasn't a question of whether he had accomplishments; the debate was the substance and quality of his history. With Obama, there is still not a single concrete accomplishment anywhere on the world stage. Yeah, he's held some meetings and talked to people, but not a single concrete accomplishment. That is a mockery of the prize. That's not to bash Obama, it's a statement of fact. He will leave a record after his time in office, and we can look back at that point and judge whether it was worthy of a prize or not. But this award is a joke.; 10/9/09, 9:03 AM
tim maguire said...: Wonderfully subtle, it took me a minute to get it.

Obama only wins awards and recognition in areas where he's done nothing. He's actually written something so an award for writing something would not fit into the Obama story.; 10/9/09, 9:15 AM
Anonymous said...: I hope someday to cure cancer: where's my Nobel for Medicine?

I hope someday to refine flubber: where's my Nobel for Chemistry?

I hope someday to invent a time machine: where's my Nobel for Physics?

I hope someday to write the great American novel: where's my Nobel for Literature?; 10/9/09, 9:21 AM
LoafingOaf said...: The Peace Prize is supposed to go to a person who has furthered the cause of peace, not someone that we feel all hopey about maybe making peace somewhere in the future

Maybe they wanted to show, say, Iran, that Obama has the backing of the international community, and it will strengthen Obama's hand in diplomacy with Iran.

Why is that a bad thing?

They can give their peace prizes out on whatever bases they want.; 10/9/09, 9:24 AM
Anonymous said...: I can't believe they didn't give it to me - I've broken up two bar fights, pacified a hostile bumblebee and prayed for interplanetary peace - and it's only October!; 10/9/09, 9:28 AM
KCFleming said...: "Maybe they wanted to show, say, Iran..."

Yup, because Iran is all about issues that have 'the backing of the international community'. It's like in their DNA.; 10/9/09, 9:34 AM
Michael McNeil said...: I suspect most of the people "criticising" lunar bombardment are not seriously criticising the idea of bombing the moon. They're just making fun of Obama -- it's mock criticism. The appropriate response is not huffy outrage, but amusement.

It's hard to say how many people constitute “most” in this regard, but there has indeed been a good deal of screeching concerning this issue on various fora (even scientific ones) by people strongly opposed to this so-called “bombing”; and under the circumstances I don't feel it's at all inappropriate to respond with “huffy outrage” to some of the more ridiculous assertions (and there are lots that are very ridiculous), even if it's true that some folks (here, for instance) are simply doing so as a way to prick Obama's behind.; 10/9/09, 9:36 AM
Peg C. said...: If he wrote 2 books I'm an astrophysicist.; 10/9/09, 9:40 AM
ricpic said...: What about Herta Mueller? Two seconds in the limelight and now this. Back to being just another anonymous German frau lugging the cabbage and potatoes home in a string bag. It's a damn shame!; 10/9/09, 9:41 AM
tinkers2evans2chance said...: Olympic Medals Ranking: 1st/Gold, 2nd/Silver, 3rd/Bronze, 4th/Nobel; 10/9/09, 10:03 AM
JAL said...: The Nobel prizes (except for things like medicine and chemistry) are stupid, useless and meaningless, except in a 1984 way.

This seals the reputation of the Oslo committee. Bizarre, totally bizarre.

Barack Obama will really think he is the second coming of Christ.

Not that you care, Nobel Committee, in your bubble, but you guys are irrelevant.; 10/9/09, 10:17 AM
JAL said...: Obviously the "Peace" prize is the consolation prize for losing the Olympics.; 10/9/09, 10:18 AM
Tom Degan said...: TERRORIST BOMBS MOON!

The moon - that nocturnal inspiration to poets and lovers for centuries - was viciously attacked this morning by Muslim terrorist Barack HUSSEIN Obama and his co-conspirators within THE GOVERNMENT.

A clear message has been sent by this radical jihadist to good and decent people everywhere. There is no room for misinterpretation: if they can target the moon - THE MOON! - in such a ghastly and unprovoked matter, it only proves - conclusively - that Main Street is not safe. Our children must be protected from the radical, hideous agenda of this man and his vile administration. Mark my words, my fellow Americans - today the moon, tomorrow Anytown, USA. OH, THE HUMANITY!

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY; 10/9/09, 10:31 AM
Anonymous said...: LoafingOaf --

"Judging by all the stuff on TV about this this morning, it seems they made a good choice to get people talking about both peace and their prize."

You mean it's a commercial, like a Calvin Klien (no free gifts) ad?

I agree. It's descended to that level.; 10/9/09, 10:37 AM
Geoff Matthews said...: Loafingoaf wrote:

"Maybe they wanted to show, say, Iran..."

Didn't seem to work too well when Shirin Ebadi won the award:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirin_Ebadi#Threats

Really, not your best argument.; 10/9/09, 10:41 AM
Andrea said...: With Obama, there is still not a single concrete accomplishment anywhere on the world stage. Yeah, he's held some meetings and talked to people, but not a single concrete accomplishment.

But to a liberal, talking is accomplishment -- in fact, it's the highest accomplishment, both because it's just about all they know how to do and because Not Speaking To Someone is the absolute worst punishment in the upper-class academic twit society most liberals dwell in. That's why they are so totally inept when it comes to messy, physical stuff like fistfights and wars; they don't have any mechanism for dealing with conflict other than talking, so you get the amusing spectacle of our current coddled liberal president thinking he can talk the Iranians into being nice, etc.; 10/9/09, 10:43 AM
miller said...: The NPP is more like the Chauncey Gardner prize.

But I love the subtlety of the response: He couldn't win the Literature award because in that category he actually did something.; 10/9/09, 2:47 PM
ZZMike said...: Somebodt said: "... Did Obama deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. No. But it was given with good intentions from people who wanna see him do wonderful things for peace in the world,..."

The Nobel Peace Prize is a world-class joke. Look at the other "winners": Carter, Arafat, Gore [!!].

You don't give a [supposedly] world-class prize for something you wanna see somebody do, you give it for something they've actually done.; 10/9/09, 2:50 PM
ZZMike said...: Tim Maguire: "He's actually written something so an award for writing something would not fit into the Obama story."

That award should go to Bill Ayers. Anybody who thinks that Obama wrote those two books is dreaming. He didn't. Palin didn't write hers, and she lets us know who did. Reagan didn't write his, and we all know who did.

JFK got a Pulitzer for a book written by Ted Sorenson, who never complained.

And so on.

And we're supposed to believe that Obama, who never wrote a line between college and now (at least, none that he wants anybody to see), cranked out two best-selling, highly praised [by the Left] books?; 10/9/09, 2:56 PM
pastol said...: Really Tim? I'm sure you have proof of all of that. Mind sharing it with us? Or are you just another lemming following the party of no? Which is it?; 10/10/09, 1:21 PM
pastol said...: My mistake, I meant to address that comment to ZZMike.; 10/10/09, 1:23 PM
Unknown said...: Yeah, I just feel bad for Guy Laliberte who spent 35 million dollars for some publicity, but gets out-clowned by a bunch of jokers (or is that Yokers?) from Norway.

If there's any redemption in it all, or perhaps if Obama were to actually earn it for 'something', then perhaps it would be for finding the bottom of the bottomless pit of intellectual and moral shamelessness that is his intellectually and morally shameless supporters, who have surprisingly admitted that perhaps there might just possibly be something amiss.

I also missed Obama holding the prize over his head like the Stanley Cup, but that's probably just as well for the committe, since, still slippery with blood from Arafat's hands, the award might have squirted out of Obama's grip and smashed into a satisfying and unrecoverable million pieces on the floor, to be swept up to spend the rest of eternity in the dustbin of history.

I could just keep going, but I have to catch a plane to Europe so I can vomit, country by country, over the whole continent.; 10/10/09, 1:28 PM
Unknown said...: obama deserves this prize only when he finishes the job what has given to him!!!!!!! not so early????????; 10/21/09, 7:40 PM