Posted by
Bullfrog on Friday, October 09, 2009 11:19:13 AM
This morning, I woke up to the news that Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Say what?
The
Times (UK) reports:
The
award of this year’s Nobel peace prize to President Obama will be met
with widespread incredulity, consternation in many capitals and probably
deep embarrassment by the President himself.
I doubt that. Obama no more knows embarrassment than does Clinton. Surprise, yes, but not embarrassment.
. . . the prize risks looking preposterous in its claims, patronising in
its intentions and demeaning in its attempt to build up a man who has barely
begun his period in office, let alone achieved any tangible outcome for
peace.
Amen.
There is a further irony in offering a peace prize to a president whose
principal preoccupation at the moment is when and how to expand the war in
Afghanistan.
Is that why Obama's been dragging his feet on McChrystal's recommendation? Hold off making a decision until after he's awarded the prize?
The
committee said today that he had “captured the world’s attention”. It is
certainly true that his energy and aspirations have dazzled many of his
supporters. Sadly, it seems they have so bedazzled the Norwegians that they
can no longer separate hopes from achievement.
Yes, folks, the Norwegians just awarded rhetoric to the tune of $1.4 million.
The prize worth 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.4 million) will be handed out in Oslo on December 10.
Gibbs claims the president was "humbled."
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who woke the president to tell him the news, said Obama was "humbled."
I doubt it. He knows humility no more than he knows embarrassment. Arrogance doesn't equal humility. Arrogance, with a dash of petulant whininess, is all I've seen from Obama since he took office.
The deadline for nominations is Feb. 1, meaning the president was nominated after being in office for just 11 days.
This is further proof that this award has
nothing to do with achievement.
Lundestad admitted that the committee knew the world would be surprised
by the decision . . . and Obama has "nothing to fear."
Except the wrath of American voters in 2010 and 2012.
There have been some controversial winners in the past (Yassir Arafat, for example), but this win takes the cake. In addition to making the committee look like a bunch of jokers, it dimishes the real accomplishments of other past winners who truly deserved the award.