You’d be hard-pressed to find a more ardent and hopeful supporter of President Barack Obama than me. But I think this award is … well … a bit much.
For no matter the rationalization, there’s no denying that the Nobel Committee awarded him the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize today (just 9 months into his presidency) not for what he has done, but for who he is.
Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future… [He has ushered in] a change in the international climate.
(The Norwegian Nobel Committee)
Indeed, the irony is not lost on me that the committee awarded him not for doing anything to prevent climate change, but for changing the climate with what amounts to hot air.
After all, as even his liberal friends at Saturday Night Live lampooned recently, despite talking up a transformative global agenda, he has precious little to show for it. And this will only provide more fodder for his critics who already ridicule him as all talk and no action.
Frankly, to put it in black and white, Obama is being honored because he is not George W. Bush! And it’s debatable whether he or Bush should be more insulted by this.
Not to mention the insult to all of the truly accomplished people (like Nelson Mandela) who took such pride in being awarded this prize.
But I’m sure Obama will be gracious, and will humbly accept his prize for what it is.
I suppose if the late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and former Israel Prime Minister Shimon Peres could win the Nobel Peace Prize for a Palestinian peace that never was, [then why not Obama for accomplishments yet to be accomplished].
Which brings me to this final word about the Norwegian cabal behind the Nobel Prize: It is naïve to think that politics do not govern its purportedly merit-based selections….
[Gore awarded Nobel Peace Prize, TIJ, October 13, 2007]
Enough said!
Well, except that Bush made Europeans so apprehensive that they probably awarded Obama the Nobel Peace Prize just for giving them some peace of mind….
NOTE: How do you spell jealous today? B-I-L-L C-L-I-N-T-O-N Now he must be really convinced that Obama is living a “fairytale.”
Related commentaries:
SNL lampoons Obama’s lack of accomplishments
Gore wins Nobel…
igNobel, Africa’s Nobel Prize…
*This commentary was published originally at 8:18 am yesterday, Friday
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