Does Barack Obama deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?
Almost certainly, no. If I understand the criteria correctly, this award is usually given to someone who actually achieves something, rather than indicates that they plan to achieve something, no matter how laudable the stated goals. I like Barack Obama. But I’ve got to think there are any number of folks out there who have actual physical accomplishments under their belts who are worthy of a Nobel nod.
So, we are left to wonder: why did the committee give the prize to Obama? A publicity stunt? Genuine admiration? A well-intentioned but misguided attempt to help Obama with his domestic critics? The result of a THC-fueled late-night meeting?
“Dudes…we should…uh, totally give the Nobel to Obama. It will BLOW PEOPLE’S MINDS.”
I’ve puzzled over this question all morning. And I think I now know why the committee chose the way they did. Giving the Nobel to Obama is like the world breathing a big, long sigh of relief. After eight years of Bush & Co’s truly frightening foreign policy, Obama has returned the USA to the international, multi-lateral fold. And because America is immensely strong and influential, this is a good thing for the global system of which the Peace Prize is a part. It’s almost like the world is saying, “Thank God you’re not a crazy, destabilizing force anymore. Have a medal.”
I can certainly understand the sentiment, but a Nobel Prize it does not make. Rather than laying laurels at Obama’s feet, I would think the international community could help the President more by muscling up to the Afghanistan problem and taking his calls for nuclear disarmament seriously. I think Obama has some great ideas. But a medal – awarded for making promises – does little to help Obama make those promises real.
I would completely agree with you if I thought the Nobel Peace Prize had any real relevance or meaning. As the token gesture it is, I’m not too fussed who gets it.
I think asking whether Obama deserves it actually begs the valid question “what were they thinking?”. And I mean that in the best sense. What WERE they thinking when the Nobel Committee gave Obama the prize?
First off, we as North Americans don’t realize how very, very, VERY scared Europeans were of George Bush. I think Europeans were totally prepared to write him off as an anomaly up to 2004 when he was re-elected. At that point, Europeans (as well as many other people in the world) collectively gasped and said, “Holy shit! Half of America actually LIKES what he’s doing!” And when you look at the richest, most powerful country that alone spends more on its military than any number of other countries in the world invading countries on the opposite side of the planet, not as the product of a lone wolf tyrant but as the approved representative of 150,000,000 people (in theory), that has to make you a little scared.
So, I suppose, if a major international organization sees this collective organism that has announced its intention not only to use its military to maintain the flow of oil (i.e. the Carter Doctrine), but to pre-emptively strike anyone who interferes with its interests (the Bush Doctrine) step back from unilateralism, maybe it can be forgiven for using the Nobel Peace Prize as a reflexive “Thank the Atheist GOD you’re there.”
Obama may or may not be a worthy selection, but I think it’s a measure of the abject terror Bush and Pals struck into the hearts of its “allies” that Obama, as a contrasting figure, was so quickly given a Nobel.
eclecticon,
I think that’s an interesting perspective. You could almost imagine the Nobel committee giving the prize to the American people for electing Obama (at least the ones who voted for him).
What I find most shocking about this is that he had to have been nominated for this prize by Feb 1st. He was in office for less than 2 weeks on Feb 1st. All I can figure is that he was nominated for winning the election. What about the previous 43 presidents, I sure hope they got their nominations.
To put into perspective how shockingly fast this is. This is the time frame of a more typical Nobel Prize.
2009 Nobel Prize in physics
Charles K. Kao, – honored for discovering in the early 1960s how to transmit light signals long distance through hair-thin glass fibers. (in the early 1960′s Obama was a baby)
Boyle and Smith – inventing a sensor that turns light into electrical signals. Invented in 1969 (Obama was 8 years old in 1969)
So these people got their awards over 40 years after their notable accomplishments, but Obama gets his before doing anything really.
Really? Really?