Obama's Nobel - I Don't Want To be Watching When...

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.

Comments

[Where's Kanye West when we need him?]

An Oscar for outstanding acting performance. Uh huh.
=================================

[Look, the real Obama is dead; this is the resurrected one.]

Well, we know of at least two thieves who hang with him.
===================================

[sylvia]

Ha. Kanye West. I'm looking forward to the Youtube clip on that.

[sylvia]

Or the Joe Wilson clip.

[PeterUK]

"Right now,you like me ,you really like me!"

[Joan]

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?

[Dave (in MA)]

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.

[PeterUK]

Dave.With Obama all that ant-lunar aggression will cease.

[TWoPolitics]

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.

[Cecil Turner]

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:

To the Young Men's Christian Association National War Work Council, through the treasurer, Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge $4,000.00

To the Knights of Columbus War Activities Committee, through the treasurer, Mr. William J. Mulligan $4,000.00

To the Jewish Welfare Board, for War Activities, through the treasurer, Mr. Walter E. Sachs $4,000.00

[MisterX]

"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.

[Yossi]

"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 ...

[Jack is Back!]

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.

[hit and run]

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:

I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal

He's changing the tides, man. The tides.

Oh and the next line shows us why he won the Nobel:

this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth.

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.

[Gregory Koster]

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.

[William Teach]

Kinda funny how Barry blew off another Peace prize recipient, the Dalia Lama, recently, eh?

[clarice]

Mr. PUK don't you think it's time to start collecting reliquaries of The One for sale to gullible pilgrims?

[hit and run]

No Obama, No Peace. Know Obama, Know Peace

Don't even try and deny it. He's got an award to prove it.

[Janelle]

Well, actually the prize should go to TOTUS.

[clarice]

I thought Oprah already ate Norway..

[PeterUK]

Clarice.
Our factories in China are pumping them out as you ask.

[sbw]

WT, Is that the flowery animal, the Dahlia Llama?

--

Is peace the absence of war or the absence of the need for war?

[Thomas Collins]

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.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

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.

[Jack is Back!]

Saw these at Publix today and bought a couple.

My son loves them because there is a prize in each one:)

[Mike Huggins]

When does Rod Serling make his appearance?

"Submitted for your approval... ...with appropriate flashbacks and solliloquy."

Unfreakinbelievable.

[Thomas Collins]

Has the 2008 Bowler of the Year award recipient been announced yet?

[clarice]

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: postmaster@nobel.no Opening Hours
Mon - Fri 08:00 - 15:45
Sat, Sun: Closed .
Details

[narciso]

"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

[clarice]

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

[Extraneus]

Heh, TC.

[Pops]

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.

[Foo Bar]

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.

[Pops]

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'

[clarice]

Fair enough even Arafat and Rigoberta Menchu deserved it more.

[jimmyk]

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.

[clarice]

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?

[hit and run]

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.

[narciso]

Yep, birds of a feather, Ayers is a good analog as advisor to Obama, as Debray was to Mitterand.

[maryrose]

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.

[Extraneus]

What a man.

[Gabriel Sutherland]

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?

[Dorothy Jane]

Has the Nobel committee noticed that their prize has accomplished next to nothing? Ever?

[jorod]

Just 9 months on the job and a Nobel Peace Prize...What about next year? Holy Roman Emperor?

[narciso]

For those who were following the Rollo nuts
and the Levi ad, sponsored by Resnick, we have this interesting detail; in the LUN

[Rob Crawford]

Holy Roman Emperor?

It would be perfect for him, as he's neither holy, Roman, nor emperor.

[Fresh Air]

I thought Oprah already ate Norway.

No, that was just a piece of chocolate the size of Norway.

[JM Hanes]

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:

Your Majesties, [my new BFF, etc., etc.]: I am truly humbled by the tribute I am here to recieve. [I love you too, Norway!] I am well aware of the expectations that accompany my acceptance of this prize, but my Nobel, awarded by the most distinguished institution in the world, is not about me, or my nine months of concrete achievements.

[Insert Achievements, Paragraphs 8 - 13]

Rather, it is rooted – I believe – in a discontent with the status quo ante. I have simply carried my message of hope, resurrected on an extraordinary November night one short year ago, from London to Ankara; from Port of Spain to Moscow; from Accra to Cairo; and it’s what I will speak about today. Lift up your hearts in song, change is possible, help is on the way.

[Video of "Children's Hymn to Obama"]

Future generations will mark this as the day America finally took up the banner of freedom and justice for all. Our children, and our children's children will say that this is the moment when one man inspired the powerful from Venezuela to Iran, from Myanmar to to Zimbabwe, from China to Sudan, to join hands in partnerships which will fulfill the broken promise of World Peace. We have wondered in the wilderness since the last American President stood before you in 2002. We were lost, but now we are found.

[Insert "Four Pillars" of salvation, paragraphs 24-50 ]

With all due respect in my heart, I applaud the Nobel Committee's blessing of my cause. As an African-American, I will never forget that I would not be here today without the steady pursuit of perfection in my own country, but as Benjamin Franklin once said, “The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one Nation." And so I accept the highest honor the world can possibly bestow, as a symbol of our shared values, and in the knowledge that I am but the embodiment, and the shining chalice, of the hopes and dreams and prayers of all peoples, in all nations on this imperiled planet.

Today, I say to you, Citizens of the World and Members of the Human Community, that with the fierce urgency of now, I will bend the arc of history in your names.

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!

[Chunks of Coal.]

And wait until you see what's in the pot at the end of the rainbow.
=====================================

[AJB]

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.

[Pops]

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 !

[Pops]

Yassir Arafat
Jimmy Carter
Al Gore

Of course Barack Obama is next on such a list....

[sbw]

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.

[JM Hanes]

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. :-)"

On a personal note, it's unlikely that my own political career beyond Georgia would ever have been possible without the changes brought about by the civil rights movement in the southern part of our country and throughout the nation.

On the steps of our memorial to Abraham Lincoln in Washington, Dr. King said much more eloquently than this, "I have a dream that on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood."

The scourge of racism has not been vanquished, either in the red hills of my state or throughout the world, and yet we see ever more frequent manifestations of his dream of racial healing. In a symbolic, but a very genuine way, at least in the case of two Georgians, it's coming true in Oslo today.

I'm not here as a public official, but as a citizen of a troubled world, who finds hope in a growing consensus that the generally accepted goals of society are peace, freedom, human rights, environmental quality, the alleviation of suffering and the rule of law.

"What's not to like?" concluded the foreign policy prodigies.

[MayBee]

Hilarious.

[PeterUK]

"The Noble committee's just trolling all of you."

Just like the Federal Reserve?

[JM Hanes]

AJB:

"The Noble committee's just trolling all of you."

This is not just in. They've been slumming for years.

[PeterUK]

Those able to dictate US policy nominate Nobel prize winners/

[Neo]

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.

[daddy]

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!"

[PeterUK]

"Evan Coyne Maloney - Brain Terminal, reports that this was a done deal on January24th!!!!!!"

The Nobel Committee members. Just the usual political hacks.

[bgates]

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.

[JM Hanes]

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?

[narciso]

Lol. bgates, that deserves a rimshot

[Dorothy Jane]

Copenhagen Conundrum solved by Stockholm Syndrome

[Old Lurker]

NOT laughing, bgates...

That was very good.

[PeterUK]

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.

[Denis Keohane]

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!

[JM Hanes]

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.

[narciso]

In light of one of the reasons he was selected for the award, in the LUN

[clarice]

Is it really necessary to encourage bgates? (Green with envy here, again!)

[JM Hanes]

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.

[PeterUK]

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.

[Where Hebee]

I can't verify, but over on FR, someone claims that Obama has found Waldo! I repeat, Obama has found Waldo!!!

[PeterUK]

This makes a mockery of the prize.
Also a nice poll.

[Extraneus]

A powerful article by Krauthammer today, if anyone hasn't seen it.

Decline Is a Choice

[clarice]

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"

[bgates]

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."

[bgates]

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.

[hit and run]

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.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

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.

[Danube of Thought]

Right now I've got him even money for this year's Heisman Trophy.

[PeterUK]

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!

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Sheesh, even the French aren't getting this award:

[clarice]

I think the Krauthammer piece in the Weekly Standard is fantastic.

[centralcal]

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!

[centralcal]

sorry Sara.

PUK's Times poll is 80% - he hasn't earned it yet.

Guess not all of Europe is completely bonkers.

[bgates]

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).

[daddy]

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?

[Extraneus]

From PUK's Times...

The award is also an example of what Nobel scholars call the growing aspirational trend of Nobel committees over the past three decades, by which awards are given not for what has been achieved but in support of the cause being fought for.

Thorbjørn Jagland, the committee chairman, made clear that this year’s prize fell in that category. “If you look at the history of the Peace Prize, we have on many occasions given it to try to enhance what many personalities were trying to do,” he said. “It could be too late to respond three years from now.”

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.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Things that make you say "Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww!"

Classy. Letterman Took Mistress On Vacation With Wife & Son

or "Egad!"

[daddy]

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!"

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Via Newsbusters:

Newsweek has a blog called “The Gaggle.”  I’ll skip the tired jokes about how I didn’t know either, and just get to the main point: Ben Adler and Daniel Stone, writers for this blog, are defending the Nobel Prize Committee’s choice of President Barack Obama as the 2009 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

As you can see, not much is needed in the way of extra humor.

Here are the reasons they give for President Obama’s worthiness:

•    President Obama will most likely be remembered as the greatest civil-rights hero since Martin Luther King Jr., because he won the presidency.
•    His platform was one of multilateralism and foreign engagement – at times, to the left of some of his own party members.
•    He worked in the Senate with Senator Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.
•    He has given some really awesome speeches in Philadelphia (the race speech), Berlin (huge crowd!), and at the last two Democratic conventions.

No, really; those are the reasons they cite.

[Barbara]

This is a joke, right?

[daddy]

"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.

[sjobs]

"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.

[narciso]

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

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

My own roundup:

If Anything, TOTUS Should Have Been the One to Win the Nobel Appease Prize

[Lesley]

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"

[daddy]

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.