Should Obama turn down the Nobel Aspirational Peace Prize? Mickey and Jon Chait think so. I don't know - becoming the only man to turn down a Peace Prize could easily come off as arrogant and above the rules (hmm, maybe that's not a bug, it's a feature!). It's also deplorably unilateral, and we all know that is a bad, bad thing. [THIS JUST IN - turning down the Peace Prize was good enough for Ho Chi Minh underling Le Doc Tho, who noted that in 1973 Vietnam was not yet at peace; he did not note that North Vietnam had no intention of honoring their side of the peace agreement, as became clear in 1975. A role model for Obama? One hopes not.]
No, he'll take it. Will the money go to the aid of military families, one of Michelle's pet projects? An ironist's delight!
But there is no way in the world I will watch his acceptance speech. When Obama comes to the bit about how this honor is not about him, it is about all Americans and all the people of the world who hope for peace and changed for peace and hoped and changed for peace... well, just kill me now.
STILL WONDERING: What is taking the Pulitzer committee so long? Obama's books have been out for years now.
TOO BOLD: Don't turn down the prize - send Gen. Petraeus to collect it and deliver the speech! Oh, I know, the teleprompter would never decline this star turn (it's the one thing it's good at), but this would certainly send a message.
ON SECOND THOUGHT: A-? Why was Halperin so downbeat?
WAITING FOR JEAN PAUL: Sartre turned down a Nobel Prize in Literature; in a moment of existential angst, Obama might emulate him.
An Oscar for outstanding acting performance. Uh huh.
=================================
Posted by: Where's Kanye West when we need him? | October 09, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Well, we know of at least two thieves who hang with him.
===================================
Posted by: Look, the real Obama is dead; this is the resurrected one. | October 09, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Ha. Kanye West. I'm looking forward to the Youtube clip on that.
Posted by: sylvia | October 09, 2009 at 12:30 PM
Or the Joe Wilson clip.
Posted by: sylvia | October 09, 2009 at 12:31 PM
"Right now,you like me ,you really like me!"
Posted by: PeterUK | October 09, 2009 at 12:34 PM
Who is behind this man? Who paid for this award? Surely someone did. Why else would he have won? It can't be simply that some Norwegians wanted to poke us in the eye that badly. Can it?
Posted by: Joan | October 09, 2009 at 12:36 PM
OT...
We bombed the moon this morning. This was part of a scientific experiment to see what would happen if you bomb the moon.
The first NASA photo is up.
Posted by: Dave (in MA) | October 09, 2009 at 12:36 PM
Dave.With Obama all that ant-lunar aggression will cease.
Posted by: PeterUK | October 09, 2009 at 12:37 PM
What's your secret for avoiding his acceptance speech?
I can only think of a deep, dark cave in the middle of the wilderness, otherwise it will be unavoidable in the civilized world.
Posted by: TWoPolitics | October 09, 2009 at 12:38 PM
Will the money go to the aid of military families, one of Michelle's pet projects? An ironist's delight!
Perhaps, but not really breaking any new ground. When Teddy Roosevelt's original plan to donate the prize money foundered due to WWI, he disbursed it to many war relief funds, among others. Some examples:
Posted by: Cecil Turner | October 09, 2009 at 12:40 PM
"STILL WONDERING: What is taking the Pulitzer committee so long? Obama's books have been out for years now."
Well, now that Going Rogue has hit the stands, BO's books would be lucky to get a Newbery Medal.
Posted by: MisterX | October 09, 2009 at 12:40 PM
"I don't know - becoming the only man to turn down a Peace Prize could easily come off as arrogant and above the rules (hmm, maybe that's not a bug, it's a feature!)."
Well, not Peace prize... but Jean-Paul Sartre was the only Nobel laureate to voluntarily decline the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964 ...
Posted by: Yossi | October 09, 2009 at 12:44 PM
I guess he is becoming more like Carter, except sooner. At least Carter was out of office before he got his. He has joined exalted company - beside Jimmah, there is Al Gore, Kofi Annan and Yasser Arafat.
I still say this more off a poke in the collective eye of America than a recognition of someone like the Once. He is just too naive to recognize the subtle tokenism. He has always been a token - at Occidental, Columbia and Harvard. Now he is our first token POTUS and is being recognized for his so-called potential rather than his accomplishment. The same reason 52% of the voters chose him over McCain.
This is another product of affirmative action - you get all these freebies without having to compete for them or accomplish anything and it makes you feel invulnerable as well as omnipotent but you are basically lying to yourself.
This is getting more and more surreal than I thought it possibly could.
Posted by: Jack is Back! | October 09, 2009 at 12:46 PM
Dave:
We bombed the moon this morning. This was part of a scientific experiment to see what would happen if you bomb the moon.
We bombed the moon to help fulfill an http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D912VD200&show_article=1>Obama campaign speech:
He's changing the tides, man. The tides.
Oh and the next line shows us why he won the Nobel:
As Obama didn't want to wait generations to be recognized as the one who stopped the oceans from rising with the full moon, the Nobel Committee didn't think it appropriate to wait generations to recognize that Obama ended the war at 8:13 PM, June 3, 2008.
Posted by: hit and run | October 09, 2009 at 12:53 PM
TM, your sights are set far too low. Pulitzer? Nonsense, bring on the Nobel for Literature...
Cheer up everyone. This merely opens the eyes of the world to the real title of the Peace award: The Nobel Politically Correct Stick Your Finger in the Eye of the West Peace Prize. To be sure, The Once's Id, already swollen, will now be like a ten day old corpse in the Bali sun. By Monday the International Olympic Committee will discover that the Brazilians used fraud to win, and go ahead and invade, Hugo, and where do you want your payoffs, Once? But this is part of that four year sentence we got last year. Resolution. Imagine the looks on some faces this AM: Jimmy Bumpkin's. Henry Kissinger's. Al Gore's. Billyboy's. Hillary's---oh my God. In the great beyond, imagine the sickly smile on Martin Luther King's face as he tries to justify this to Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.
Posted by: Gregory Koster | October 09, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Kinda funny how Barry blew off another Peace prize recipient, the Dalia Lama, recently, eh?
Posted by: William Teach | October 09, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Mr. PUK don't you think it's time to start collecting reliquaries of The One for sale to gullible pilgrims?
Posted by: clarice | October 09, 2009 at 12:56 PM
No Obama, No Peace. Know Obama, Know Peace
Don't even try and deny it. He's got an award to prove it.
Posted by: hit and run | October 09, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Well, actually the prize should go to TOTUS.
Posted by: Janelle | October 09, 2009 at 01:01 PM
I thought Oprah already ate Norway..
Posted by: clarice | October 09, 2009 at 01:05 PM
Clarice.
Our factories in China are pumping them out as you ask.
Posted by: PeterUK | October 09, 2009 at 01:05 PM
WT, Is that the flowery animal, the Dahlia Llama?
--
Is peace the absence of war or the absence of the need for war?
Posted by: sbw | October 09, 2009 at 01:06 PM
Next up: the 2010 prize in medicine and physiology for ObamaCare.
Then: the 2011 prize in both physics and chemistry for Cap and Trade.
Finally: the 2014 literature prize for his memoirs on his White House years titled: How Sweetie Sarah and Her Right Wing Co-Conspirators Sabotaged My Presidency.
Posted by: Thomas Collins | October 09, 2009 at 01:11 PM
As a caller to The Dennis Miller Show said this morning, he should also get the Cy Young Award for having thrown out the first pitch at the All Star Game.
Posted by: Patrick R. Sullivan | October 09, 2009 at 01:11 PM
Saw these at Publix today and bought a couple.
My son loves them because there is a prize in each one:)
Posted by: Jack is Back! | October 09, 2009 at 01:14 PM
When does Rod Serling make his appearance?
"Submitted for your approval... ...with appropriate flashbacks and solliloquy."
Unfreakinbelievable.
Posted by: Mike Huggins | October 09, 2009 at 01:25 PM
Has the 2008 Bowler of the Year award recipient been announced yet?
Posted by: Thomas Collins | October 09, 2009 at 01:28 PM
You can thank the Nobel committee. I did:
© The Norwegian Nobel Institute
Terms of Use Address
Henrik Ibsens gate 51
0255 OSLO
See mapContact us
Tel: (+47) 22 12 93 00
Fax: (+47) 22 12 93 10
E-mail: [email protected] Opening Hours
Mon - Fri 08:00 - 15:45
Sat, Sun: Closed .
Details
Posted by: clarice | October 09, 2009 at 01:31 PM
"Twilight Zone, bearded spock universe, the multiverse' whatever it is, we aint in Kansas anymore. Meanwhile, the future GOP candidates offers so much promise, (sarc) in the LUN
Posted by: narciso | October 09, 2009 at 01:32 PM
Recent Nobel Peace Prize winners (or the curse of the Nobels):
"* In 2005, the prize went to Mohamed elBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, for his efforts in discouraging nuclear proliferation. Evidently, the word hasn't reached Iran, North Korea, Syria, or Pakistan yet.
* In 2004, the winner was Wangari Maathai, for her efforts on behalf of "sustainable development, democracy, and peace", which appears to amount to planting trees in Kenya. Last year Prof. Maathai began a campaign against the menace of plastic bags. Good for her, I say.
* The 2003 winner was Shirin Ebadi, "for her efforts for democracy and human rights". Everywhere but her home country of Iran. She'll get around to it eventually, though.
* For 2002, it was our own Jimmy Carter, for peace, democracy, human rights, and I don't know what all. Two weeks ago, Jimmy was given the bum's rush by a pack of Sudanese security thugs. I guess they hadn't heard about his Nobel.
* The 2001 prize went to Kofi Annan. Kofi has more or less dropped out of sight after leaving the UN. I wonder why?
* In 1997, it was Jody Williams of the International Campaign to ban Landmines. Haven't heard of them recently either. Did they dig ‘em all up?
* And in 1988, the nod went to the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces. You didn't know there was a Nobel for well-run whorehouses, did you? "
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/the_nobel_prize_curse_1.html
Posted by: clarice | October 09, 2009 at 01:34 PM
Heh, TC.
Posted by: Extraneus | October 09, 2009 at 01:44 PM
One good thing. I believe this will be an AHA! (Teaching moment) for the drive-by media.
They must now see the Nobel people like we see them.
I am reminded of a line I remember from an old move (If you could see what I hear).
"I'M BLIND, THAT'S HOW YOU SEE ME"
Yes media, that's how we see you...blind to reality.
Posted by: Pops | October 09, 2009 at 01:46 PM
I don't know - becoming the only man to turn down a Peace Prize could easily come off as arrogant and above the rules (hmm, maybe that's not a bug, it's a feature!)
Correction: Le Duc Tho declined the peace prize in 1973.
Posted by: Foo Bar | October 09, 2009 at 01:53 PM
I haven't seen Obamas entire speech, but I thought from what I heard that he was very clear.
He said he didn't deserve the prize...'AS MUCH' as prior recipients...not that he didn't deserve it 'at all'
Posted by: Pops | October 09, 2009 at 01:58 PM
Fair enough even Arafat and Rigoberta Menchu deserved it more.
Posted by: clarice | October 09, 2009 at 02:06 PM
He said he didn't deserve the prize...'AS MUCH' as prior recipients...not that he didn't deserve it 'at all'
It wasn't quite as bad as that. He said "I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize." That could mean "not as much" or "not at all." He's straddling the fence on this one.
Posted by: jimmyk | October 09, 2009 at 02:08 PM
Rigoberta's make believe autobiography BTW was written by Regis DeBray's(Regis is a left French pol) wife and is completely false--anyone see any parallels?
Posted by: clarice | October 09, 2009 at 02:11 PM
Rumor has it that the Nobel committee began to waver on selecting Obama after last week's SNL skit (Guantanamo not closed, troops still in Iraq, Afghanistan has gotten worse).
Luckily for Obama, CNN's fact-check helped reassure them.
Posted by: hit and run | October 09, 2009 at 02:12 PM
Yep, birds of a feather, Ayers is a good analog as advisor to Obama, as Debray was to Mitterand.
Posted by: narciso | October 09, 2009 at 02:18 PM
It's a travesty but it now comes with a burden attached. Let's see him produce. Most likely scenario in the Middle East- no resolution, probably Israel and Iran will have at it with Obambi on the sidelines continuing to vote present. He won't live up to this dubious honor-that's a given.
Posted by: maryrose | October 09, 2009 at 02:19 PM
What a man.
Posted by: Extraneus | October 09, 2009 at 02:27 PM
How many elections will Obama win as a write in candidate?
Any one for a wager on Obama being elected President of a several African countries?
Posted by: Gabriel Sutherland | October 09, 2009 at 02:37 PM
Has the Nobel committee noticed that their prize has accomplished next to nothing? Ever?
Posted by: Dorothy Jane | October 09, 2009 at 02:43 PM
Just 9 months on the job and a Nobel Peace Prize...What about next year? Holy Roman Emperor?
Posted by: jorod | October 09, 2009 at 02:47 PM
For those who were following the Rollo nuts
and the Levi ad, sponsored by Resnick, we have this interesting detail; in the LUN
Posted by: narciso | October 09, 2009 at 02:52 PM
Holy Roman Emperor?
It would be perfect for him, as he's neither holy, Roman, nor emperor.
Posted by: Rob Crawford | October 09, 2009 at 02:52 PM
I thought Oprah already ate Norway.
No, that was just a piece of chocolate the size of Norway.
Posted by: Fresh Air | October 09, 2009 at 03:03 PM
TM:
You don't have to watch Obama's acceptance speech! I've got it right here.
It's not as dazzling as the speech he could have given if he'd had the chutzpah -- and humility -- to turn it down (what a missed opportunity!), but never mind. The Mix 'N Match team in V. Jarrett's Office of Public Engagement has been busy cutting and pasting from the President's only slightly less humble U.N. message. Anonymous sources passed the embargoed text along to me:
A standing Scandinavian ovation will be the sweetest of IOC palette cleansers. FLOTUS, buff bare arm draped across the shoulders of Queen Sonja, will be positively radiant in a platinum dress, and diamond studded belt. Si, se puede!Posted by: JM Hanes | October 09, 2009 at 03:04 PM
And wait until you see what's in the pot at the end of the rainbow.
=====================================
Posted by: Chunks of Coal. | October 09, 2009 at 03:08 PM
I don't support this award choice but the wingnut reactions make it all worth it.
The Noble committee's just trolling all of you.
Posted by: AJB | October 09, 2009 at 03:09 PM
I bet all those that made fun or were outraged by the forced singing of Obamas praises by the school children look pretty dumb now.
Of course we should force our kids to sing his praises...of course...he is the President of the World !
Posted by: Pops | October 09, 2009 at 03:14 PM
Yassir Arafat
Jimmy Carter
Al Gore
Of course Barack Obama is next on such a list....
Posted by: Pops | October 09, 2009 at 03:15 PM
Let's see. If I understand the protocol correctly -- as in the Pulitzer Committee and the NY Times never admitted the Duranty prize was wrong -- then the Nobel Peace Prize Committee can never admit that one or more (Arafat, Carter, Gore, Obama) of its prizes might have been wrong.
Posted by: sbw | October 09, 2009 at 03:23 PM
This just in!
Susan Rice and Samantha Power are said to be pulling out the stops in favor tweaking of James Earl Carter's Nobel speech. They argue that no one will really be able to tell the difference, and that such homage might finally persuade Mr. Carter to surrender his personal rolodex of contacts deep within the offices of dictators who speak for all their people.
My anon. source FAXed over a Rice/Power memo to Jarrett, including a handwritten cover page which read: "Check out the attached sample. Bo could have ghost written this himself! It will definitely resonate to our advantage with JC. Just do it, Val. :-)"
"What's not to like?" concluded the foreign policy prodigies.Posted by: JM Hanes | October 09, 2009 at 03:37 PM
Hilarious.
Posted by: MayBee | October 09, 2009 at 03:39 PM
"The Noble committee's just trolling all of you."
Just like the Federal Reserve?
Posted by: PeterUK | October 09, 2009 at 03:42 PM
AJB:
"The Noble committee's just trolling all of you."
This is not just in. They've been slumming for years.
Posted by: JM Hanes | October 09, 2009 at 03:52 PM
Those able to
dictate US policynominate Nobel prize winners/Posted by: PeterUK | October 09, 2009 at 04:01 PM
Obama says Nobel Peace Prize is “call to action”
Yeah. Action ?? I bet somebody made a fortune on this over at InTrade. That’s real action.
Posted by: Neo | October 09, 2009 at 04:02 PM
Well perhaps they got the envelopes mixed up.
This makes sense if Obama was supposed to have won the Peace Prize at the ">http://improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig2009"> Ig Nobel Awards Ceremony from last week.
There, his non-contribution to World Peace after 11 day's in Office would make sense.
And thus the winners of the real Nobel Peace Prize should have been these guys:
"PEACE PRIZE: Stephan Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael Thali and Beat Kneubuehl of the University of Bern, Switzerland, for determining — by experiment — whether it is better to be smashed over the head with a full bottle of beer or with an empty bottle."
For those interested in further exploring their research:
"REFERENCE: "Are Full or Empty Beer Bottles Sturdier and Does Their Fracture-Threshold Suffice to Break the Human Skull?" Stephan A. Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael J. Thali and Beat P. Kneubuehl, Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, vol. 16, no. 3, April 2009, pp. 138-42. DOI:10.1016/j.jflm.2008.07.013."
The researchers didn't fully explore whether a bottle of Lager would do a better job of skull crushing than a bottle of Ale, but no matter, I think with the prize money they could continue that valuable research, and shortly afterwards expand it into a thrilling movie, ala Al Gore's example.
I'd title it, "The Hunt For Red Octoberfest!"
Posted by: daddy | October 09, 2009 at 04:06 PM
"Evan Coyne Maloney - Brain Terminal, reports that this was a done deal on January24th!!!!!!"
The Nobel Committee members. Just the usual political hacks.
Posted by: PeterUK | October 09, 2009 at 04:07 PM
Le Duc Tho declined the peace prize in 1973.
He probably expected he'd get it in 1975.
Anyway, you can see why we would never have thought of that guy in a discussion about Obama, they're so different - one of them led a Communist insurgency which destroyed a nation from within, and the other was Vietnamese.
Posted by: bgates | October 09, 2009 at 04:12 PM
PUK:
The Nobel site seems to be loading awfully slowly. Probably overloaded by all those people going WTF?
This gives Stockholm Syndrome whole new meaning, doesn't it?
Posted by: JM Hanes | October 09, 2009 at 04:26 PM
Lol. bgates, that deserves a rimshot
Posted by: narciso | October 09, 2009 at 04:34 PM
Copenhagen Conundrum solved by Stockholm Syndrome
Posted by: Dorothy Jane | October 09, 2009 at 04:38 PM
NOT laughing, bgates...
That was very good.
Posted by: Old Lurker | October 09, 2009 at 04:39 PM
JMH,
The are all pols.So basically Norwegian politicians are influencing American politics.
Another point which does not seem to be looked at,is that all these organisations giving awards usually put out feelers to those to be honoured.Obama must have known. I agree with the comment that McCrystal and Afghanistan were put on the back boiler whilst Obama got his bauble.
Posted by: PeterUK | October 09, 2009 at 04:39 PM
I have it on good authority that the Nobel Peace Prize Committee had intended to give the award to Obama in 2010 but the SNL skit forced their hand and action had to be taken!
Posted by: Denis Keohane | October 09, 2009 at 04:39 PM
Dorothy Jane:
I love this. Via the Corner, CNN reports Rahm Emanuel saying, "It's clear Oslo beats Copenhagen any day of the week." Just in case anyone thought the White House wasn't still stinging from the IOC rejection.
Posted by: JM Hanes | October 09, 2009 at 04:43 PM
In light of one of the reasons he was selected for the award, in the LUN
Posted by: narciso | October 09, 2009 at 04:44 PM
Is it really necessary to encourage bgates? (Green with envy here, again!)
Posted by: clarice | October 09, 2009 at 04:47 PM
PUK:
It wouldn't look good to be discussing COIN ops and drone bombing with a General on this day of days, would it? It's The Optics, Stupid!
David Axelrod thinks you'd like to know that this is not an honor the President sought. Apparently Obama's éminence grise can keep a secret.
Posted by: JM Hanes | October 09, 2009 at 04:53 PM
JMH,
This bauble is Obama's "thirty pieces of silver". This was about Obama,not the troops of whom he is Commander in Chief. Impeach him.
Posted by: PeterUK | October 09, 2009 at 04:57 PM
I can't verify, but over on FR, someone claims that Obama has found Waldo! I repeat, Obama has found Waldo!!!
Posted by: Where Hebee | October 09, 2009 at 05:05 PM
This makes a mockery of the prize.
Also a nice poll.
Posted by: PeterUK | October 09, 2009 at 05:08 PM
A powerful article by Krauthammer today, if anyone hasn't seen it.
Decline Is a Choice
Posted by: Extraneus | October 09, 2009 at 05:09 PM
Taranto:"The question is not whether Obama can live up to the Nobel Peace Prize, but whether he will be able to live it down"
Posted by: clarice | October 09, 2009 at 05:10 PM
CNN reports Rahm Emanuel saying
An earlier version had reactions from other members of the Administration:
Tim Geithner: "Not a lot of people know this, but the Nobel prize comes with $1.4 million in cash. Cash, you know? As in 'no 1040'. Sweet."
Michelle Obama: "We have to go *back*? Where the hell is Ole So? *Norway*? We were just there! So now I have to take *another* trip? It never ends! I swear to Jesus, if this city has any more of those skinny white bitches like the last one, Ima break off a Nobel piece of my foot in their ass."
Vice President Joe Biden: "This is just great. Just great. Change. Change has come. And it's come to Norway. You know, it used to be all they were known for was raping and murdering for fun, back in the Viking days. But look at them now. Honoring our President, for....boy. I mean, they were rough customers. They'd descend on a town and just burn the whole thing and kill everybody. Kind of the Congressional Republicans of their day, know what I mean? Or like how the American military act-uh, acted under George Bush.
(Hey, maybe leave that last part out, ok?)"
Nancy Pelosi: "I think this is a touching sign of faith in America, our America, and a clear signal that the world wants us to all join together in a spirit of peace and harmony, and wipe out the scourge of Republicanism. Hound them from public life. Make them ashamed to show their faces. Attack them, attack them, destroy them all! Death to Republicans! Death to Republicans! Death to Republicans!
So I congratulate the President on this award, and recognition of his role in promoting peace."
Posted by: bgates | October 09, 2009 at 05:12 PM
Giving Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize is like putting Marge Simpson on the cover of Playboy.
When the fever breaks and I wake up, I'm going to miss you guys.
Posted by: bgates | October 09, 2009 at 05:18 PM
Why Obama Won
Although Reagan is credited with ending the Cold War with the Soviet Union "without a shot being fired", it did not culminate into the final collapse of the USSR until after Reagan had completed two terms and left office.
In contrast, Barack Obama ended the Global War on Terror within weeks of assuming the presidency.
Oh, sure, Obama ended it by renaming it "Overseas Contingency Operations" rather than, you know, win it, if you want to be nitpicky. But hey, he ended the war because war is not the answer, and that is good enough for Oslo.
Posted by: hit and run | October 09, 2009 at 05:18 PM
We should have a contest before the award ceremony to see if Michelle wears one of her fat belts over a cardigan sweater or if she opts for one of her upholstery ensembles.
Posted by: Sara (Pal2Pal) | October 09, 2009 at 05:29 PM
Right now I've got him even money for this year's Heisman Trophy.
Posted by: Danube of Thought | October 09, 2009 at 05:30 PM
Please read the link to the times and VOTE like it was 1914. There is also a good comments section,Americans can still have a voice!
Posted by: PeterUK | October 09, 2009 at 05:33 PM
Sheesh, even the French aren't getting this award:
Posted by: Sara (Pal2Pal) | October 09, 2009 at 05:37 PM
I think the Krauthammer piece in the Weekly Standard is fantastic.
Posted by: clarice | October 09, 2009 at 05:39 PM
This is wonderful, wonderful!
Winds of Change has a screen shot of an on-line poll taken by Le Figaro about Zero's Nobel prize.
Obama meritait-il le prix Nobel de la paix 2009?
Oui - 30%
Non - 70%
lmao - even the French don't think he deserves it!
Posted by: centralcal | October 09, 2009 at 05:49 PM
sorry Sara.
PUK's Times poll is 80% - he hasn't earned it yet.
Guess not all of Europe is completely bonkers.
Posted by: centralcal | October 09, 2009 at 05:54 PM
Peter, I choose neither of the Times' options, "Yes he has changed the world" nor "No he hasn't done anything yet". I vote for "yes, he's an anti-American joke like the prize has become".
In the remaining real awards, the prize in chemistry was given for work done 9 years ago, when the winners were full professors and Obama was a state senator;
the prize in medicine was for work done between 1975 (grade 8) and 1985 (community organizing, year 1);
and the prize in physics was shared by three men, one of whom made his discovery in 1966 (when Obama was five), and two others who retired in 1979 (Barry's senior year of high school) and 1986 (the champ's second year of community organizing).
Posted by: bgates | October 09, 2009 at 05:55 PM
I don't get it.
Since the committee is intent on praising Obama for trying to remake America into Cuba, why not cut out the middleman and just award it to Castro himself?
Posted by: daddy | October 09, 2009 at 05:57 PM
From PUK's Times...
So, a stark and honest admission that the Nobel committee's intent is to influence American politics. Yes, it's a funny joke, and makes them as well as the recipient a well-deserved laughing stock, but still, this is insidious. Many in the world are cheering Obama's contribution to our decline, which is well covered in the Krauthammer article I linked earlier. Here's hoping that the most deserving are caught up in the bloodbath which is likely to follow.Posted by: Extraneus | October 09, 2009 at 05:59 PM
Things that make you say "Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww!"
Classy. Letterman Took Mistress On Vacation With Wife & Son
or "Egad!"
Posted by: Sara (Pal2Pal) | October 09, 2009 at 06:02 PM
And the scary thing is thinking about how this is probably being conveyed to our very gullible school-children this very instant.
No need now to come up with possibly illegal efforts at having gradeshcoolers sing hokey hymn's to Obama. Simply read the Citation and have the kids write essays on why he deserved it:
"Say it loud, he's Barrack and we're proud!"
Posted by: daddy | October 09, 2009 at 06:05 PM
Via Newsbusters:
Posted by: Sara (Pal2Pal) | October 09, 2009 at 06:05 PM
This is a joke, right?
Posted by: Barbara | October 09, 2009 at 06:08 PM
"Giving Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize is like putting Marge Simpson on the cover of Playboy."
I hear Polanski's pissed there aren't any pix of Lisa Simpson in the spread.
Posted by: daddy | October 09, 2009 at 06:09 PM
"Giving Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize is like putting Marge Simpson on the cover of Playboy."
Or Levi Johnston on the cover of Playgirl...oh wait.
Posted by: sjobs | October 09, 2009 at 06:12 PM
I would say they were drinking the Koolaid, but that isn't a subservient enoughmetaphor.
One could disagree with King's politics, specially in 1967-68, but there is no doubt
that it took real courage for him to
accomplish what he did; emphasis on accomplish. The Berlin and specially the Philadelphia speeches were the worst sort
of tripe
Posted by: narciso | October 09, 2009 at 06:26 PM
My own roundup:
If Anything, TOTUS Should Have Been the One to Win the Nobel Appease Prize
Posted by: Sara (Pal2Pal) | October 09, 2009 at 06:29 PM
Currently, I'm up in northern Minnesota enjoying the fall colors. In the fine tradition of all things Minnesota (hot dishes, lefse, lutefisk, bulky Scandinavian sweaters, ice houses, etc.), I was invited to my neighbor's home for "coffee" this afternoon. I really had a head full of steam about the Nobel Peace Prize selection but I was stopped dead cold in my tracks wrt any comment I might make as I congratulated my dear neighbor on her Minnesota State Fair FIRST PRIZE entry in the Crop Art catagory which she, and rightfully so, had proudly displayed on her living room wall.
Minnesota State Fair Crop Art First Prize 2009
Scroll down for "President Barack Obama in Seeds"
Posted by: Lesley | October 09, 2009 at 06:33 PM
The nice thing about this is that our troops in harms way, who were discouraged yesterday by O's obvious disinterest and dithering in helping protect their lives, will now see the bigger picture of World Peace he's been aiming it. Comforted by the Committee's endorsement, they'll now feel better about sacrificing themselves for Obama's Nobel photoshoot.
Posted by: daddy | October 09, 2009 at 06:34 PM