Let me get this right, this is the same guy that orders predator drone strikes that kill "foreigners", which include children, and he's "recognized" as someone that promotes peace?

Is this 1984 or what? Black is white. Everything down the memory hole. Nothing to see here.

Wow. I shed sweat and tears to get this man elected (not blood though, thankfully!), and I'm about as far left as a person can be...but this even had my jaw hitting the floor. Total stunner.

I'm happy though. Can't wait to see all the Republican heads explode. Congratulations, Mr. President!


EDIT: I just have to add, in seriousness, that I think Morgan Tsvangirai probably should have won this year. Or a second Prize should have been awarded to Aung San Suu Kyi, given her struggle since first winning back in '91.

i am elated for him myself actually. and yes the fox news pundits will tear this apart.

oh well

i agree houser...one should actually have to be promoting peace, not just giving lip-service to it, while dropping bombs on people and killing innocent children, and continuing to promote war....just goes to show that there are few differences between liberals and conservatives when it comes to selling out for a personal cause....i think in some cultures they call it prostitution....anyone need a shower yet?

No, I have no idea what Obama has done that deserves the Nobel. He hasn't done much of anything, really. The only thing he's done, in fact, that promises to create any waves at all whatsoever is still working through Congress and might not even pass.

I do not know what the award committee is thinking. Maybe they're giving him the award simply for not being G.W. Bush. While not too bad of a start it's nowhere near deserving of any kind of medal, let alone the Nobel.

Yeah, whatsisname Beck is going to go crazy over this. Bill O'rly too. I'm almost tempted to watch just to laugh at their bulging face-veins.

On the other hand, meh. Can you remember who last year's peace prize winner was without looking it up? How about the year before that? I can't. I think I heard that at one point it was awarded to Yassir Arafat, so that tells you how credible it is. One thing I would like to stress: the so-called "Nobel peace prize", while being as famous, is not at all as stringent as the prizes for physics, medicine, mathematics, and the like. People actually have to make demonstrable contributions to human knowledge in order to qualify for those. The peace price is way too subjective in my opinion.

I am sure the Nobel committee doesn't hand out these awards to undeserving recipients. I believe that at least one member of this board will receive one someday.

o_0

he's deffo more of a pacifist than bush but wtf?!! as much like to deserve a nobel?!!

well they must know better than meh

Well, as long as they are just giving them away for no reason to anyone, I'll throw my name in too. LOL

My thinking is that Obama got the Peace Prize because folks at Nobel were hoping to influence our President toward a more moderate course than that taken by his predecessor. Certainly under President Obama there have been some force reductions in Iraq, and he has so far resisted the calls for a big build-up in Afghanistan. I can see why Jimmy Carter got it, less so why Franklin Roosevelt did. After all, FDR presided over the killing of millions of Axis troops and many millions of the Axis' civilians, and was the only World leader to yet use the atomic bomb in anger. Teddy Roosevelt was also a recipient and I believe that he presided over the Spanish/American war, where among other accomplishments our Navy destroyed the Spanish Navy at the Battle of Manila Bay with very heavy casualties, to almost none of ours, "liberating" the Philippines from Spain.

Perhaps it was some of his accomplishments in Chicago that got him the prize, but I am leaning toward a course of action that the folks at Nobel hope that our President takes, as the main reason for awarding him the Peace Prize.

Mark

In other news, Obama was named Motor Trend’s Car of the Year.

Honestly, I just don't get it.

He seen as a sign that things could be better.
A Black man running the most powerful country in the world.
Who would have even considered it 10 yrs ago.

I still long for the day someone can get recognition for accomplishments without being torn down. Whether or not I personally feel he should get the award - he DID get it - and I congratulate him.

... talk about giving peace a chance ...

I'm with Markk

Way to go President Obama.

I am afraid it may hurt his credibility.

I dont see how.

I think it does because he was awarded it before really doing anything. I support him. But I don't see this being valid.

Some high-profile reactions:

Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic had it about right: "It might be smart for Obama to turn this prize down, at least until he achieves peace somewhere. Or trade for Olympics."

Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said: "He should decline it and then ask to be considered again in three or four years when he has a record."

Time's Nancy Gibbs wrote: "The last thing Barack Obama needed at this moment in his presidency and our politics is a prize for a promise."

How about doing something in his capacity as President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces to withdraw from an illegal occupation of a country that we INVADED? Would that not be promoting peace?

How about revamping our foreign policy which currently relies on bribes (foreign aid) and bombs to a policy in which we stop running around the world seeking dragons to slay? How about adapting a policy which will inspire people to love America instead of fear it? This is how it USED to be. This is why the people, not the GOVERNMENT, of France, gave us that Statue of Liberty.

Has anyone noticed that no one has been trying to give us another Statue of Liberty lately? Why do you think this is?

In general, foreigners love McDonalds and our culture and countless other consumer goods and services we export, but they hate our government (except foreign governments who happily take our bribes to keep them in power, of course)

What kind of Bizzaro-world are we living in now, where the leader of a country that continues the illegal occupations of 2 sovereign countries which has resulted in the deaths well over a million people is admired and respected?

Am I confused? Am I stupid? Do I simply not "get it"? Somebody wake me up please, so that I can make sense out of what I'm seeing!!

That doesn't hurt his credibility, just the credibility of the committee. The Nobel isn't something you "run" or "campaign" for; he had no choice in the matter and was likely just as surprised as anyone else.

The language of the award announcement suggests to me that the award was more of a swipe at the previous administration than a recognition of the current one.

i was thinking along the lines that the 'prize' is awarded less to a person and moreso to a purpose. of course many people have their own ideas about what constitutes purposefulness. it would be interesting to know how the committee reached its conclusions, but they didn't ask me to be on it. i guess i wasn't good enough. LOL

You are good enough to be nominated, though. Anybody may nominate anyone - seriously.

You could even use it to make yourself sound important, like if you write an article or something. "Sans Logos, a 2009 Nobel peace prize nominee, had this to say on the matter..."

hahahaa true....

i guess i meet the lowest common denominator qualification, which, since i am a person qualifies me according to my own criteria above......there is however that pesky qualifier of 'purpose', which i have yet to discover.

hmmmmm, melliferal, you got me thinking..... and that could be dangerous. if i'm not careful i may rather end up on the opposite list over at interpol. and if i do, it would be purely by occident.

all the best,

ron

This is about as valid as him having a birth certificate to show that he's even eligible to be the president, which is what I'd say is one of the most basic signs as to why everything is under question for a reason. This award makes sense as much as his apoligizing for everything America's done since slavery(exagerating), I wish I was there to pull him from the podium that day to apolygize for him and tell everyone that when he's intoxicated he feels guilty and talks too much.

He hasn't done anything but talk in ways to try and not offend anyone who supports him, he's a people pleaser. I'm black, not republican and HAVE MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE here in my room(and the search for his continues, maybe Indiana Jones will find it in the next movie). I find it offensive that he keeps being looked at as some grand representation for blacks in America to be encouraged.

As some comedian put it: "we didn't need Barack Obama to believe all things are possible, we found that out when Heidi Klum married Seal!"

His talk about war strategy makes even less sense but it's applauded. It's great that people want peace but it's not great how they don't see the reality of things, it's not a path of roses, it's a lot of work that won't get anywhere by trying to "tolerate" differences and holding hands. We ain't the ones strapping bombs to ourselves.... war is war, kids die, women die, innocent die, war is not pretty. Maybe real war should return to our shores to give America a reality check, our country does not get the full impact of war. Fine don't add more troops in Afghanistan, what happens when you try to do any job without the tools to complete it? Either support or pull out completely and let that country/region do it's part to destroy the world, make the choice and follow through... it ain't that hard. Don't leave our troops to die while you twiddle your thumbs, two choices... pick one mr prez. If things are left as is without reenforcement it just makes it a suicide mission. Obama gets his 3 day weekend, my friends over there don't. Do people really believe that if you leave those people to their own devices that world peace magically comes about? How? I don't know how many people see the holes in how the world is, I feel that most people are plain sheep, kind of still in the "Matrix". The civilian world only knows as much as the media can tell them. Maybe it's because public can't handle the truth of things, they don't accept what's right infront of their faces so why give them more to deny? I have friends who have physical proof of "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq unreleased to the public 10min from my hands but the blind like being blind. There are plenty of things the civilian world does not know or understand, I feel more at peace to know the truth.

Nobel Peace Prize, another thing that's lost it's integrity.
I don't see how he could accept such a thing when he knows that he don't deserve it and that there are others who really do, I'm not George Bush either, along with the rest of the planet but there ain't nobody notifying me.

I don't.

And the most the State of Texas will give me, no matter how much I pester or pay them, is a stamped piece of paper that says "Yes, we have a birth certificate on file for this person with this SSN and these parents". Thankfully, most of the employers I've given it have accepted it as a birth cert, even though it isn't. I'd hate to see what happens if I ever run for president, though.

lol

"..HAVE MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE"

I have my birth certificate too, and I was born in another country. It just happens to be G.I.

I have to add my two cents to this topic. I was dumbfounded by the news that Obama won a Nobel Prize. My original understanding of this award was to recognize an individual who has made a significant contribution to our world, still puzzled why Al Gore won this award, that's another topic.

I honestly don't feel that Obama has contributed much to the contribution of the human race or something significant in his life.

I hope this award isn't becoming this common trend to just give a gold star to everyone cause we are all so special.

hi buddy,

i think what muddles it up, is the fact that the nominations had to be in in february, just after the inauguration itself, and it was kind of a 'bum's rush' type of situation. and my personal intuition wants to report that the committee was riding high on the enamorization that obama had actually been hired as CEO of the U-Sofa, and felt that from a world view perspective, he was deserving of the award because his inauguration was seen by the globe as such a 'new day' moment. as i said earlier, the award was given to a purpose rather than a persona. this is a celebration of moment in time when [from the european perspective] a bridge to the past has been burned, once and for all.

all the best,

ron