Congratulations to the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces, currently engaged in the eighth year of a (recently escalated) war in Afghanistan, and the seventh year of a war in Iraq, along with a smattering of smaller engagements from the Horn of Africa to the Philippines, on winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Apparently, the Norwegian committee that awarded the Nobel to President Obama also admired his commitment to dealing with "climate change". I like how the Norwegians are concerned about carbon emissions. Not concerned enough to stop pumping their North Sea oil though. Norway looks as out of place as Saudi Arabia on the climate change on the bandwagon
According to the Atlantic Wire, a number of prominent pundits across the political spectrum are recommending that the President turn down the prize.
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6 comments:
They should have given the award to Bush for starting all those wars that Obama is finishing.
I didn't believe it at first. This could have been an episode on South Park. The almighty Nobel Peace Prize before he's even done a damn thing. What's even worse is they had to have their votes in by just a couple of weeks after he was elected. That means he didn't even have time to lobby for this public display of political fellatio!
It's like the worst of the liberal stereotypes come to life. Now I know how many southern republicans feel when they watch a Sasha Baron Cohen movie, or how many blacks feel when they watch the evening news, or how many American Muslims feel when another jihad is splashed across the news screens by some new terrorist group. There's always some of us out there making it hard on the rest of us. Do they not realize that this makes a mockery of the POTUS's supporters, not to mention their own organization? At least wait for him to do...you know...actual peace work.
Where is the spotlight for real humanitarian heroes that don't already have oodles of publicity?
On the plus side, maybe it will deter him from increasing troop levels in Afganistan. Ok, probably not. But it's ammunition to pressure him.
I laughed when Obama said he was "humbled" by the honor...we know that award went straight to his head! The humble thing to do would be to give it to someone that needs the attention (and the money) for their unnoticed humanitarian work, as others have suggested.
Spotlighting little-known humanitarians is always a safe choice (and the money and publicity has a much bigger impact on them than it does on a sitting POTUS). But if the Norwegian committee were smarter and more forward-looking, they could have satisfied their lefty political leanings and extended the relevance of the prize by giving it to the president of Brazil.
There's a guy from truly humble origins (fourth grade education, lost a finger working in a factory, etc.) who has presided over several years of significant progress for his country. Who would have thought, seven years ago, that Brazil's sovereign debt would be investment grade today? Heck, if current trajectories continue (and I'm hopeful that they won't) within a decade, Brazil's sovereign credit rating will be higher than ours.
Lula has set an example for leftists everywhere else, that you can spend more money on the poor, as he has done (though he's tied it to the poor doing stuff like keeping their kids in school), while strengthening your country's fiscal balance sheet and not sabotaging its economy. And plus, his country isn't at war anywhere right now. Not that I'm against war per se, but if I were on the Peace prize committee, I'd probably take that into account.
Good points, I didn't know anything about Lula's story. And to have a rapidly modernizing country like Brazil means it's only a matter of time before the populace completely gets with the fast food program (I guess that makes me a "sin stock" investor).
Go BOBS!
I take Obama's selection not so much as acknowledgement of his peace achievements, but as a rebuke of those countries (and leaders) who stand in the way of his call for peace. For example, Obama's win is a direct shot accross the bow of Israel and Netanyahoo's beligerant stance against the U.S President. It places Likud and neo-con warmongers in stark relief, and exposes their attempts at undermining Obama's peace initiatives at every step. The world is watching; watching not just those who move toward peace, but those who stand in the way.
Having said that, Obama's casual dismissal of the Goldstone report on Gaza would probably be enough for me to rescind his prize anyway. I guess I am torn.
Far too much time, money, and diplomatic energy is wasted on trying to mediate a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. Better to let them work out their own modus vivendi and focus on the India-Pakistan conflict. Those two countries have about a hundred times more people, nuclear weapons, and their festering conflict is the root of Pakistan's embrace of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
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