What prize?
On December 10th Barack Obama, the US President, will receive the Nobel Peace Prize in a ceremony held in Oslo, Norway. Obviously a great honour, and one of the most prestigious prizes that can be awarded to any politician or activist. The question is, does he deserve it?
First of all. The nomination process. The nomination had to be in before February 1st . If we assume that the nomination made the deadline by the smallest possible margin, Mr. Obama had been in office for no more than 11 days. As far as I know there was no major events instigated by, or announcements made by, Mr. Obama, in the span of those 11 days that can, by any standard, be considered of such importance that they deserve any prize at all. He hadn't even gotten around to getting a dog. Something every US President must have.
It must therefore be assumed that the nomination was for achievements by Mr. Obama before the nomination. But what achievements? So far I have found absolutely no source that can point me to anything that Mr. Obama has said or done before he was nominated that bears any relevance what so ever to the Nobel Peace Prize. In all fairness his association with U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar had some bearing on the subject, but Peace Prize level achievements?
Since there are no achievements in Mr. Obamas past as of the date of nomination, it must therefore be assumed that they would happen in the future. The nominators, and the committee must be clairvoyant. Being able to see great achievements for Mr. Obama in the future.
The problem is that there is nowhere in the Nobel Charter any mention of expected future achievements or contributions. The chairman of the Nobel Committee Mr. Jagland says the committee was particularly impressed by a speech given by Mr. Obama in June in Cairo. Excuse me, but isn't that months after he was nominated?
And the rest of the track record? Bailing out the US car industry? Failing to dismantle the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay as promised? The Health Insurance Reform? 30,000 more soldiers for Afghanistan? Nothing here as far as I can see.
So what do we end up with really? A man of colour becoming the first US President. A great achievement in itself. No doubt. And he's still alive. Also impressive. Considering all the nut cases that would rather see him dead. Let's hope it stays that way.
But there's hardly anything here worth a Nobel Peace Prize. So we end up with something completely different don't we? A political prize. After eight disastrous years with Bush in The Oval Office there is hope. And hope is a good thing. Only time will show if Mr. Obama will deliver.
Being the cynic I'm not overly optimistic.
First of all. The nomination process. The nomination had to be in before February 1st . If we assume that the nomination made the deadline by the smallest possible margin, Mr. Obama had been in office for no more than 11 days. As far as I know there was no major events instigated by, or announcements made by, Mr. Obama, in the span of those 11 days that can, by any standard, be considered of such importance that they deserve any prize at all. He hadn't even gotten around to getting a dog. Something every US President must have.
It must therefore be assumed that the nomination was for achievements by Mr. Obama before the nomination. But what achievements? So far I have found absolutely no source that can point me to anything that Mr. Obama has said or done before he was nominated that bears any relevance what so ever to the Nobel Peace Prize. In all fairness his association with U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar had some bearing on the subject, but Peace Prize level achievements?
Since there are no achievements in Mr. Obamas past as of the date of nomination, it must therefore be assumed that they would happen in the future. The nominators, and the committee must be clairvoyant. Being able to see great achievements for Mr. Obama in the future.
The problem is that there is nowhere in the Nobel Charter any mention of expected future achievements or contributions. The chairman of the Nobel Committee Mr. Jagland says the committee was particularly impressed by a speech given by Mr. Obama in June in Cairo. Excuse me, but isn't that months after he was nominated?
And the rest of the track record? Bailing out the US car industry? Failing to dismantle the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay as promised? The Health Insurance Reform? 30,000 more soldiers for Afghanistan? Nothing here as far as I can see.
So what do we end up with really? A man of colour becoming the first US President. A great achievement in itself. No doubt. And he's still alive. Also impressive. Considering all the nut cases that would rather see him dead. Let's hope it stays that way.
But there's hardly anything here worth a Nobel Peace Prize. So we end up with something completely different don't we? A political prize. After eight disastrous years with Bush in The Oval Office there is hope. And hope is a good thing. Only time will show if Mr. Obama will deliver.
Being the cynic I'm not overly optimistic.
posted by Morten E at 14:46
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