This wasn't about President Obama. - Democratic Underground

deadmessengers

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Fri Oct-09-09 07:38 AM
Original message

This wasn't about President Obama.

This award wasn't for Obama's actions. In fact, as long as we are still waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan, I'm of the opinion that no US President should get the Nobel Peace Prize. This award was, in my opinion, given to the President as a proxy and representative of the American people, for their total repudiation of the policies of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney at the polls last November. The Bush/Cheney doctrine of for-profit war was the single greatest threat to peace, and by voting to not continue those policies under McCain and Palin, the American people made the largest single step toward peace in my lifetime. The Nobel awarded today was in recognition of that fact.

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Ken Burch

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Fri Oct-09-09 07:41 AM
Response to Original message

1. Maybe there's something to that argument

Edited on Fri Oct-09-09 07:41 AM by Ken Burch

You're gonna get bashed by the "cult" wing of DU though. You weren't saying anything bad about the Prez here, but they're being ugly about this for some reason.

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deadmessengers

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Fri Oct-09-09 07:55 AM
Response to Reply #1

6. I'll add this to the list of things I've been bashed for, then

If I had a nickel for every time I've been flamed around here for expressing an opinion that ran counter to the prevailing winds on DU, I'd at least be able to go out for a nice dinner :)

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Ken Burch

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Fri Oct-09-09 01:09 PM
Response to Reply #6

11. I wasn't saying you DESERVED bashing, just so you know.

n/t.

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el_bryanto

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Fri Oct-09-09 07:43 AM
Response to Original message

2. That's still pretty fucking stupid

For one thing, I'm not sure we have repudiated the Bush Cheney Doctrine. For another, they gave it to Obama, not to the American people.

It's possible, even somewhat likely, that given time Obama might have legitimately earned a Noble Peace Prize. But he hasn't yet.

Bryant

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Kind of Blue

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Fri Oct-09-09 07:55 AM
Response to Reply #2

5. Well, your opinion of legitmacy does not jive

with the Nobel committee's criterion. The prize also clearly honors works in progress. I, for one am glad they gave it to him now instead of later.

Read their process.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/articles/sejer...

"Where the Peace Prize is concerned, the wording has been seen as opening up opportunities to engage in processes which have not yet reached a conclusion, but where there has been clear evidence of progress..."

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el_bryanto

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Fri Oct-09-09 08:00 AM
Response to Reply #5

7. He was in office for a couple of weeks

He probably hadn't even figured out the phone system yet. It's like giving a just graduated Chemist the noble prize for Chemistry on the grounds that he wants to work on cheap energy for all. Well that's technically a work in progress; but it doesn't mean he's accomplished anything.

And damn right my opinion of legitimacy doesn't jive with the Noble committees.

Bryant

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Kind of Blue

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Fri Oct-09-09 08:12 AM
Response to Reply #7

8. Well, at least we agree on one thing. Cheers. n/t

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BridgeTheGap

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Fri Oct-09-09 08:29 AM
Response to Reply #2

9. They couldn't give it to the American People. Not everyone voted for Obama. n.t

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Nye Bevan

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Fri Oct-09-09 08:46 AM
Response to Reply #2

10. Good point.

They could have awarded it to "All Americans who voted for Barack Obama".

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PATRICK

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Fri Oct-09-09 07:43 AM
Response to Original message

3. Well,

even as a possible shared award I am not sure the American have quite succeeded in leading the world to peace by any consensus other than economic pain. By the most cynical standards Obama is ahead of the curve and doing the leadership words and actions, insufficient by the highest standards(as is usual for world leaders)but at least incrementally better than the vocal majority regarding global peace issues. Probably isolationism scores above higher ideals. Not yet at any rate, hopefully someday when ALLOWED universal access to the free flow of real information.

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babylonsister

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Fri Oct-09-09 07:46 AM
Response to Original message

4. Actually, it was about the President. Here's the citation ...

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020347.php#more

The full citation, released this morning:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the United States is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

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