When I first read that the Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded to the President of the United States for only the fourth time in history, I though I was reading The Onion, but no it’s true — Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize:
OSLO — In a stunning surprise, the Nobel Committee announced Friday that it had awarded its annual peace prize to President Obama “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” less than nine months after he took office.
“He has created a new international climate,” the committee said in its announcement. With American forces deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Obama’s name had not figured in speculation about the winner until minutes before the prize was announced here.
Reporters at a news conference to announce the prize pressed the committee’s chairman, Thorbjorn Jagland, to explain the reasons Mr. Obama had prevailed over other candidates who included human rights activists in China and Afghanistan and political figures in Africa.
Specifically, reporters asked whether Mr. Obama might not become mired in a war in Afghanistan as Lyndon B. Johnson was in Vietnam.
But the committee said it wanted to enhance Mr. Obama’s diplomatic efforts so far rather than anticipate events in the future.
Mr. Jagland, a former prime minister of Norway, said that Mr. Obama had already contributed enough to world diplomacy and understanding to deserve the prize.
As to whether the prize was given too early in Mr. Obama’s presidency, he said: “We are not awarding the prize for what may happen in the future but for what he has done in the previous year. We would hope this will enhance what he is trying to do.”
It’s official, folks.
The Nobel Peace Prize is now a joke. There was a time when it was awarded for actual accomplishments, such as when two sitting and one former U.S. Presidents won the Prize:
1906 — Theodore Roosevelt “for his successful mediation to end the Russo-Japanese war and for his interest in arbitration, having provided the Hague arbitration court with its very first case”
1919 — Woodrow Wilson “President of United States of America; Founder of the League of Nations“
2002 —Jimmy Carter “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development”[
Or, some of these other recipients:
1953 --- George Catlett Marshall "General President American Red Cross; Former Secretary of State and of Defense; Delegate U.N.; Originator of "Marshall Plan""
1964 --- Martin Luther King, Jr. "Leader of "Southern Christian Leadership Conference""
1970 --- Norman E. Borlaug "for his contributions to the "green revolution" that was having such an impact on food production particularly in Asia and in Latin America."
1978 --- Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat and Menachem Begin "for the Camp David Agreement, which brought about a negotiated peace between Egypt and Israel"
1983 --- Lech Wałęsa --- "Founder of Solidarność; campaigner for human rights"
1989 --- The 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) "[for] his struggle for the liberation of Tibet [and] consistently has opposed the use of violence. He has instead advocated peaceful solutions based upon tolerance and mutual respect in order to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of his people.”
1993 — Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk — “for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa”
1994 — Yassir Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres — “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East”
Or, how about someone who was continuously nominated for the Peace Prize during his lifetime but never won.
What, exactly, has Barack Obama done ?
Yea, I can’t figure it out either.
October 9th, 2009 at 8:15 am
President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for keeping the Olympics out of the Chicago war zone! What else could it have been?
October 9th, 2009 at 9:06 am
[...] Many see this decision a failure, since Mr. Obama has reigned the USA for not even a full year. On Below the Beltway there is a reaction like many others to his winning. Robert Gibbs from the White House has sent [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 9:08 am
[...] Below The Beltway » Blog Archive » Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace … [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Doug,
I generally agree with you except for this:
Jimmeh never found a dictator or a rigged election that put a dictator into power that he didn’t like.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:16 am
He’s reached out to the Muslim community and bring a closer understanding between America and the Middle East, is bringing back a diplomatic way of handling relationsips with other nations, he’s trying to lower the number of nikes in the world…I say thats a damn good job. The Nobel Prize is not joke and I think Obama deserves the award. Would I mind if he didn’t get it, no, there are many other qualified canidates. But Obama was worty of such an honor
October 9th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Maybe I should win the Nobel Peace Prize…
Last week my teenagers were fighting like pit bulls and I brokered an arrangement to punish them for what transpired, but also gave them incentives to behave in the future.
Of course, in the scenario above, I actually accomplished peace. Although it wa…
October 9th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Kevin,
I agree, but my point was that at least there was a body of work that one could point to as the reason for the prize.
You can’t say that about Obama’s Rookie Of The Year Award
October 9th, 2009 at 11:19 am
[...] of Doug Mataconis of Below the Beltway can be gleaned from the headline of one of his posts: “Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize Without Actually Doing Anything.” Hey, that’s almost a haiku. If after scanning that, you’re still not sure about [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Since I can’t respond on Facebook or Twitter on campus…
I believe the award is anticipatory, in the sense that they EXPECT him to be a peacebroker during his 4 or 8 years in office. Not that I believe he is worthy of the award (at this point in time at least), but I don’t think the reasoning was solely because the Nobel Committee hates George W. Bush.
Also note that the nominations closed something like 11 days after his election.
The Nobel Committee has thrown down its gauntlet. Let’s see if he can live up to it.
October 9th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
> When I first read that the Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded to the President of the United States for only the fourth time in history, I though I was reading The Onion
Yah, likewise. What kind of bizarre planet did I wake up on this morning?
Enthusiasm is nice. Hope is nice. The two don’t add up to accomplishments, however.
October 9th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
[...] Below The Beltway » Blog Archive » Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace … [...]
October 10th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Here’s the 10 Top Reasons why President Barack Obama is very deserving of his Nobel Peace Prize Award, gleaned from global news sources:
Who else after 9 months behind America’s wheel, with a mixed reception at home, could be recognized by the leaders of Peace on the planet as being a global world leader for peace of significance. Here’s ten things you should read about why Obama should recieve his award on Decemeber 10th, 2009.
http://horiwood.com/2009/10/10/10-reason s-barack-obama-has-a-nobel-peace-prize/
December 2nd, 2009 at 3:46 pm
I feel so surpriced when i heard that the Nobel Committee announced that it had awarded its annual peace prize to President Obama.
It is just not that reasonable.