quote of the day

[the_siobhan]

"I don’t know if Barack Obama deserves the Nobel Peace Prize quite yet, and I’m actually serious when I say he won it in no small part for simply not being George W. Bush — for seeking to reengage with the world in the sort of way that decent, non-rogue countries do. That said, who cares? What’s fun is that this sets up the sort of massive, overwhelming, out-of-control right-wing freakout that money can’t buy."

From Alas, a blog

Comments

[unagothae.livejournal.com]

He got a prize for existing...because his existance gives people hope...in order to encourage him to actually DO something...

Yeah, I'm right there with you on the "Wait. What?"

[ramonarjona.livejournal.com]

Wow. I should've gotten up earlier this morning....

[raindrops.livejournal.com]

A lot of the rational left isn't all that thrilled either.

Getting what is supposed to be a prestigious prize simply for not being GWB isn't all that prestigious. Nomination deadline was February 1. He had just been sworn in and hadn't done a damn thing yet.

[anmorata.livejournal.com]

You have some mighty interesting anonymous comments up there. Hehehe.

[sola.livejournal.com]

I admit that it was pretty baffled, and can't really say as he deserves it just yet, but the monkey dance is going to be absolutely. priceless.

[megiddo-lj.livejournal.com]

I think it was too soon to give him the award when comparing him to previous recipients and I have trouble believing there weren't more deserving candidates out there, but whatever.

However, watching the right-wing heads explode today has been entertainment. It started out good with Joe Scarborough wondering how Obama would 'live down this disaster'. Disaster? Really? Winning a Nobel Prize is a disaster? Two wars isn't a disaster but winning a prize is...hrm....

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

Yo, President Obama...
I'm really happy for you, and I'm gonna let you finish, but Auguste Marie François Beernaert and Paul-Henri-Benjamin d'Estournelles de Constant's Nobel Peace Prizes were the Peacefullest Peace Prizes of all time... (http://arib.livejournal.com/730756.html)

[nicklausse.livejournal.com]

Ha, funny quote! That campaign speech on race was massive all on its own IMO.

[griffen.livejournal.com]

I'd more or less agree with that. But I think that the award is timely - Obama has been seeking to reopen and reengage ever since he started campaigning, and it's setting the tone for further progress, which is to be encouraged. As the announcement said, it's not always for doing concrete things that you get this kind of prize - sometimes it's because you're setting the cultural and social framework for doing those concrete things, which needs to be encouraged.

That said, pass the virtual popcorn. I'm going to have fun watching the right wing exploding over this.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Obama has been seeking to reopen and reengage ever since he started campaignin
Spelling aside: you think Obama is not Bush... how many wars as he stopped? Or ceased?

At least when Hitler won Time's Man of the Year he'd done something.

[griffen.livejournal.com]

If you think Obama hasn't "done something," you haven't been paying attention.

Inspiring people is, in fact, worthy of this kind of recognition. And he's inspired millions to work for peace.

If you can't see the connection, I can't help you.

[ravensee.livejournal.com]

Hey. Godwin's Law.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Bravo.
And yet....

[nicklausse.livejournal.com]

I totally agree and wrote this on it this morning (in the typical common-man-gets-a-hundred-characters-per-idea fashion, I could go on):

English speakers today value technology over science, value the concrete over the history of ideas. Obama's achievements have been in rhetoric and diplomacy. Reviving that lost art in such a spectacular fashion is a huge achievement IMO. The world is showing solidarity with the USA? How's that for results? Take the compliment humbly and say, "Thanks!"

[ravensee.livejournal.com]

;)

As an absurdist I'm currently having some soy cream and watching the sparks fly on online debates right now. Iz fun.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

I am only a humble Australian.
My blood is the blood of convicts.

I only stayed up all night to watch Obama's swearing in (and I skipped Nick Cave to do so).

So, maybe I'm not the best judge of these things, and maybe I can't help but being a little cynical given what the Americans "elected" and supported in the years before Obama, but I can't help suspect that somewhere else there is someone else who, pithy protestations of "hope" aside, might have done something to advance the cause of peace a smidge more than Obama. (Especially if the small window in which he was nominated holds true.)

But I can't help wondering if, maybe, this is premature.

There were millions working for peace before him, and there will be those working for it after him.

Obama is hope, but so far he is lacking in deeds.

(Hell, I am arguing against the Nobel committee... crazy)

[ravensee.livejournal.com]

I think when it all comes down to it, if we're talking about things people did, then the Nobel should have gone to Hu Jai: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Jia_%28activist%29

BUT I see both points where Obama was deserving of it, for he did accomplish something that brought change to the world and to future generations by becoming President of the United States.

Obama is humbled by it, yes:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aVcHn1Ig_M1E


But still:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/yes-you-can-oppose-obamas_b_315496.html

It's celebrity politics and "Do you know who I am?" culture. Admittedly though, media, event the Nobel, is all entertainment, hot air and little substance in the end.

I like the fact that people are debating things with fervor again though.

[megiddo-lj.livejournal.com]

"But I can't help wondering if, maybe, this is premature."

I don't think that's even up for debate. It is. Plenty of liberal Americans and Obama voters are also doing a 'WTF?!' dance today. Hell, even Obama himself was stunned by the announcement. Given that they had decided by February when he'd been in office a month, it's hard to understand *why* he was given the award. Certainly nothing he's actually done warrants the award.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Hell, even Obama himself was stunned by the announcement.

As opposed to the "WTF is the Nobel Prize" look dubya would have given.

, it's hard to understand *why* he was given the award.

Does the Commission give their reasons? I know a lot of the other prizes are obvious, and I am too tipsy too hunt it out.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Soy cream?
Does it taste like cardboard?

[ravensee.livejournal.com]

It's inspired by chocolate, but does its job which is to please me.

[nicklausse.livejournal.com]

“But this was primarily an award on his work on and commitment to nuclear disarmament – and his dialogue. Of course there will be criticism, because he hasn’t achieved his goals yet. It will take time, but this is a support.”

WSJ Link. (http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/10/09/nobel-committee-member-nuclear-disarmament-efforts-won-obama-the-prize/)

Also a good angle I read earlier today, can't find the link off hand, is that the Nobel Prize reflects what's important to Europeans. We may or may not hold the same values. A materialistic culture run by MBAs tends to be results-based, while cultures with deep traditions of rhetoric and philosophy may value a "dialogue" even more.

[megiddo-lj.livejournal.com]

he won for his 'extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples'.

yeah......

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Huh. All the soy *-cream I have has tasted bad.

I guess we are in the future after all.

[ravensee.livejournal.com]

Not until we have turkey dinners in pill form.

OH WAIT.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

No wai? You do?

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Er.... was the field empty?
He's not the messiah he's just promise.

[megiddo-lj.livejournal.com]

Carter was out of office 20 years before he got his (deserved) Nobel prize. Let's see whether he still looks so good 2 decades out. This just plays into his cult of personality and that scares me.

I do wonder why they couldn't find someone who had done more for peace. Like maybe the opposition to Mugabe's party in Zimbabwe or the women in Afghanistan who are fighting to keep education for girls alive against people throwing acid in their faces. So many better choices.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

This just plays into his cult of personality and that scares me.

I cannot disagree. I so want Obama to be "leader of the free world", but so far he hasn't done much.

[ravensee.livejournal.com]

Tryptophan, which is the essence of turkey used to come in pill form for insomniacs. True story! Hence turkey dinner in pill form.

I, however, would never have a dinner in pill form. Food is goooooooood.

Now I crave shortbread.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

I agree.
I'm all WTF right now.'
If there's a prize for NOT being Dubya, I want in.

Despite what Una says above, Obama does not bring hope.
He is still prosecuting two wars. He has failed to close Gulag Gitmo, and he cannot even control his own Government.

[unagothae.livejournal.com]

I was paraphrasing what I had read, thus the "What?" that followed it.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting perspective.

[ravensee.livejournal.com]

P.S. A listof nominees: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/who-were-the-nobel-nominees/article1312931/

I think this is why it bothers me so much. As much as Obama inspires hope, why couldn't we wait until he was an established president as opposed to one filled with promise? These other nominees, like Hu Jai and Denis Mukwege, what about them? Because they're not as well known?

Gandhi never got the Nobel Prize, so I guess that says quite a bit.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Aha. Sorry about that.

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

they didn't vote in february. they voted now. the nominations don't matter; anyone can get nominated. hitler once did (no, i am not kidding).

he didn't get the prize for not being bush, though i believe it is in part a repudiation of the neocon ways of dealing with the world.

[raindrops.livejournal.com]

There were 205 nominations. Of those, a short list was prepared for final consideration, and he made it to that. This all occurred very early in his presidency.

If the nominations don't matter, why are they sealed for 50 years?

[raindrops.livejournal.com]

And seriously, everyone knows that Hitler was nominated.

Everyone also knows that Gandhi was never awarded the prize.

Neither of which have anything to do with this.

[the_axel]

Because Alfie thought it was a good idea?

To ensure that the nominations don't matter?

Incidentally, it's not that the nomination information gets divulged at year 50, the rule is that the committees can't even entertain the possibility of divulging until at least year 50.

http://nobelprize.org/nobelfoundation/statutes.html