Obama has just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was nominated for the prize less than two weeks after taking the office of the Presidency (when the deadline for nominations ended) and been in office for not yet 10 months and hasn’t yet had time to accomplish anything at all along the lines of what previous Nobel winners have done. Indeed, the committee that awarded him the Nobel said that it is not for what he has accomplished basically, but for what they hope he will accomplish. The news of his win dropped jaws around the world, not simply among his political opponents but also among his strongest supporters, including those who worked on his campaign. For instance, over at the Huffington Post Jesse Berney weighs in with a post titled “He Should Have Turned It Down,” and screenwriter (and a guy who worked on Obama’s campaign) Michael Russnow writes a post titled “Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Laureate: Whatever Happened to Awarding for Deeds Actually Done?” among many others adding their shock.
The Huffpo folks aren’t the only ones expressing shock and scepticism. The Los Angeles Times writes “Excessive praise can be unwelcome and embarrassing., We endorsed him for the job, and we greatly prefer him to his predecessor. But it’s difficult to see why he deserves the peace prize so soon after taking office. The Nobel committee didn’t just embarrass Obama, it diminished the credibility of the prize itself.” [emphasis mine]. The Washington Post (also endorsed his candidacy) adds their two cents: “It’s an odd Nobel Peace Prize that almost makes you embarrassed for the honoree.”
Almost? No, it does make you feel embarrassed for the honoree. This has put Obama, through no fault of his own, in a terribly embarrassing position.
Yesterday, one of the most-searched phrases in google was “Obama Nobel Prize is this a joke?” and today if you put the keywords Obama and Nobel in, one of the top search suggestions includes “for what.”
And it hasn’t done him any favours at all. Quite the opposite and for a number of reasons. First, people tend to feel a bit of resentment toward someone who gets something they haven’t earned, right? And this has put a bad taste in the mouth of many who support and like Obama and, despite this not being Obama’s fault, that bad taste is likely to remain associated with him (we certainly know this from a psychological perspective). Second, this is totally setting Obama up for criticism in the future: not only if he doesn’t live up to–earn– the award (and perceptions of what is required to earn that reward is a pretty tall order), but anytime he does anything that could potentially be seen, even by small groups of opponents, as running counter to what a “peace prize winner” should be doing, we’ll be seeing sarcastic reflections on “Mr. Nobel Winner” and that is certainly bound to seep into the public consciousness over time. I mean, look, it has already started among his supporters: famed filmmaker Michael Moore posts “Congratulations ….Now Please Earn It” and goes on to say “The irony that you have been awarded this prize on the 2nd day of the ninth year of what is quickly becoming your War in Afghanistan is not lost on anyone…..You have to end our involvement in Afghanistan now. If you don’t, you’ll have no choice but to return the prize to Oslo.”
It is really like the Nobel committee has set him up for failure, ridicule, and pity. They did him no favour at all.
We all do know it is impossible for him to return the prize, on the other hand every grown up knows Nobel prizes to be political statements, me being this tolerant to you and your wild bunch of right wing readers and lousy commenters would have been a far more capable winner.
Mongrel do you count yourself among my “lousy” commenters, I mean, you do comment here do you not? And actually, the majority of my readers are left-wing or center and only a few consider themselves staunchly on the right.
Personally, right, left, or center, I value my readers and commenters and the vibrant discussions and shades of opinions expressed. I even value you, as vitriolic as you so often are.
Of course, Mongrel had to spew his insults again in good fashion of all the people who just cannot grasp that there are people in this world who simply refuse to see in Obama the new Messiah.
This whole prize charade is completely ridiculous and the result of this insane adolation of Obama in Europe that has been going on for some months now. Now of course this can only be topped by the Pope declaring Obama a saint. May be next week?
Being in your eyes vitriolic is good, regard it as a compliment.
Mongrel, I view our commenters here as a little friendly community—this includes you and all who comment here, those I agree with and those I don’t. I respect the differences of opinion represented here. I’ve been politically to the Left all my life, often to the far Left, in many, if not most of my views. No one could ever call me “right wing”, trust me.
I do entirely agree with you that the Nobel Peace Prize is political. I agree with Yael that Obama would probably have preferred this to be given to him at the end of his term, not now when he is just starting his presidency and is facing so many extremely difficult decisions.
Perhaps, though, he is able to withstand the pressure and to make decisions based on what he feels to be his best judgment.
I think that Yael’s post is a comment on the insane Obama worship that has taken hold of so many people in the US and in Europe. (not so much in the Middle East). My own sister’s family sees him as the answer to all of the world’s problems. This is not realistic, of course, and like many leaders in the US and elsewhere, he has many political constraints.
Sir John — excellent points.
Lynne — the real danger of putting anyone on a pedestal is that they can rarely live up to the expectations and the disillusionment that often follows is often a disillusionment as far from reality-based as the original idol worship. you know the old saying, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Obama in his first 9 months has for the most part not deviated, as far as actions (rhetoric is a different matter), far from the Bush policies — Gitmo is still open, he’s signed on to continue a number of practices that Bush was harshly criticized for (and a few that Obama himself took Bush to task over), the U.S. is still in Iraq and he’s adhering to the withdrawal timeline hammered out under Bush, and he’s escalating the war in Afghanistan (something he said should happen during his campaign), he’s continued the Bush-initiated economic bailouts etc. He has a lot of things that differ that are proposed (e.g., healthcare reform) but none of those things have actually happened yet and it is unclear if they will, or how happy people will be if they do happen once they happen. People who think that Obama is the new Messiah –and we know a lot of them between us — are likely to be sorely disappointed in the long run.
See?, your mother regards me as friendly.
After granting the Nobel Peace Prize to Lê Ðức Thọ at 1973 (he at least refused it) and to Yasser Arafat at 1994, this prize is tarnished.
I would have been much more impressed by Obama had he turned the prize down, citing the aforementioned receipients as ones with whom he wouldn’t want to be associated.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_Peace_Prize_laureates
Mongrel, and see, as I said I value your comments as well. Even if you are sometimes a snarly mongrel. Nu, maybe I need a puppy feeding route as well as one for cats: I’ve tamed many snarly kitties…
[...] Israel, Yael admits feeling sorry for Obama, saying: [i]t does make you feel embarrassed for the honoree. This [...]
Not to forget, the Nobel Committee also cited Obama’s de-nuclearization efforts which he unveiled at UNSC meeting two weeks ago - not before the nomination.
[...] Israel, Yael admits feeling sorry for Obama, saying: [i]t does make you feel embarrassed for the honoree. This [...]
TDDPirate, yes, as Mongrel points out, the Nobel Peace Prize is political.
Obama was placed in a difficult position–he could not win if he accepted or declined. I guess he did best by gracefully accepting it. Didn’t Dr. Martin Luther King receive the prize also? Certainly he deserved to have.
By using the award to slap repudiate Bush they made life more difficult for Obama. Was that intentional or a mistake.
Insert generic right wing comment here.
Actually, here is a real comment.
Every one should look at the other nominees for the Peace prize. Some of them have dedicated their lives to helping other people for altruistic reasons, have made a difference in the lives of otherwise forgotten people, and have suffered for their efforts. They deserve the peace prize (and the $1.4 million) for things they have already accomplished. Not Obama for the promise his administration showed after 11 days in office.
Obama has NEVER done anything for altruistic motives. His receiving the prize shows that it is truly a badge of shame and no longer honor. The committee cares nothing about promoting peace but cares only about socializing the world. (and probably slapping down Israel)
My 16 year old daughter had an appropriate comment. The next Peace Prize should be given to some one yet unborn as that person MAY do great things in the future.
Just one rejected canadate…
In 2002, Sima Samar became the first women’s affairs minister in Afghanistan’s post-Taliban interim government. Prior to her appointment, Samar had dedicated her life to the preservation of basic rights for women and girls in Afghanistan. She fled her country in 1984 during the Soviet ocupation and moved to the border town of Quetta, Pakistan, where she founded the Shuhada Organization to support the education and health needs of Afghan women and girls. With dogged persistence and at great personal risk, she kept her schools and clinics open in Afghanistan even during the most repressive days of the Taliban regime, whose laws prohibited the education of girls past the age of eight. When the Taliban fell, Samar returned to Kabul and accepted the post of Minister for Women’s Affairs, even as she continued to run her clinics and schools. But her persistent calls for equality and justice attracted the attention of Afghanistan’s powerful religious leaders, who still saw no place for women in Afghan public life. She was taunted by male colleagues, and she began to receive thinly veiled death threats from Islamic conservatives hoping to silence her. She was ultimately forced to step down from her cabinet post, which was left unfilled. She subsequently was offered a non-cabinet position chairing the Independent Afghanistan Human Rights Commission, a position she still holds.
You are allways this confident?
Yup
Yes, the Nobel for Peace has become in recent years very political, particularly so in the last 15ish years. The awarding committee has really deviated sharply from the intent of the Alfred Nobel when he established the prize and from tradition.
As Tiger Mike points out, there were so many who were truly deserving of being honoured for work that spanned a lifetime. Those who continued on despite hardship, some under threat of death, some who were managed to do amazing things to help their fellowman despite persecution.
But again, this is not Obama’s fault. He did not ask for this, or nominate himself and I think was as blindsided as everyone else was at the announcement. I feel bad for the position he was put in. From his speech, he was clearly uncomfortable with the whole idea. I think had I been him, I would have asked that it devolve to the most worthy on the list or perhaps ask that it be held in escrow as it were for several years until I’d had a chance to earn it. But a seriously hard call and he had only a couple of hours to figure out what to do, what to say, how to handle this uncomfortable situation.
Yael and Tiger Mike, good points. I will add that the committee may have been attempting to control Obama by awarding him the prize, steering him to “peaceful” decisions during his presidency. The committee made inappropriate selection, though Obama may earn it later.
In a way I may conclude out of all of the comments that a person like me would be judged right to be a fair candidate for a Nobel prize, yes?
By the way, as I was looking at this whole issue I found that the “committee” that votes the Nobel prizes is actually the Norwegian Parliament. I don’t know if that adds to this discussion. I just found it interesting
Oh, and did anyone else hurt their back dancing with a Sefer Torah?
Tiger Mike, thanks for the info on the “committee”. Very interesting and illuminating..
You are out of luck; the prize seems to be politically selected.
Mongrel,
Luckily there are happy commenters like us Europeans, the only prize which the Norwegians “do” is the one for peace, Alfred Nobel was a Swede, the others prices are done in Stockholm.
It is a real pity we Dutch were not able to keep foot in America, everybody of you would have spoken Dutch and were not this negative towards us Europeans like some of you, I am not going to mention any names.
LOL guess what Mongrel, I was born and raised in Europe and left Europe for good reasons to become American. The same reasons that other Americans of mostly European origin some 200 years before me decided they wanted to be free from European governments. So if Americans would speak Dutch instead of English, or Italian or German, it would still be the same: we cherish freedom and independence, Europe however feels comfortable with tyranny, appeasement and socialism. It actually is sad to see what has become of the old world, there was a time when the Dutch were willing to fight for their freedom, but that was long long ago. There is no Willem van Oranje any more in the Netherlands.
Sir John, well, I am glad that you are American now, but you have to admit that in the US we have good people and horrible ones, too. Unfortunately. We need more good Americans so I am glad that you are here!!!!
Mongrel, I have very positive feelings about the Dutch.
Of course Willem van Oranje is no more amongst us, was shot hundreds of years ago by Baltasar Gerards.
I am a little chagrined that Old Europe is seen as “backward” and America as the “Town to be”. I never set foot on American soil and probably never will.
As for Obama, his “winning” the Nobel Peace prize will put some stress on him. For others winning the NPP was NOT reason to go a step further (I think specifically of Arafat).
The Netherlands have at least some poeple who see that Mohamedans are a pest. Swedes, Norwegians and Danes try to cope but the problems overrun them. As for the French they try to respond but to no avail for the moment.
The biggest threat to Europe and for that matter to Germany are the Turks who think they are Europeans, but they are not. If they were we should accept the whole Middle East and whole North Africa… Thats not my idea of Europe.
I won’t comment on the UK.
Mongrel, well, it may have been hundreds of years ago, but I am still not over it.
Lynne, how come?, you are a monarchist?
Thougth you Americans to have your own Royal Family in the Kennedy’s.
Just kidding really. I’m actually no fan of the Kennedy’s.
Off topic I know, but I thought you’d like to see this short video of one of my cats watching the England match last night! So sweet!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/susanbaldock/4012713826/
Is the writer of this blog alive? I’m worried.
Hey Yael, my man is currently in Tel Aviv. He says it is hot hot hot, and he has kiwi ice running through his veins.
Please post one line to say you are alive, eating regularly and have less than 20 cats in the apartment:-)