Well, he may have lost in his bid to win the 2016 Summer Olympics for his hometown of Chicago, but I guess his international standing has not totally eroded, as President Barack Obama was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize nonetheless.
President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” a honor that came less than nine months after he made United States history by becoming the country’s first African-American president.
The award, announced in Oslo by the Nobel Committee while much of official Washington — including the president — was still asleep, cited in particular the president’s efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
“He has created a new international climate,” the committee said.
For Mr. Obama, one of the nation’s youngest presidents, the award is an extraordinary recognition that puts him in the company of world leaders such as Mikhail Gorbachev, who won for helping to bring an end to the cold war, andNelson Mandela, who sought an end to apartheid.
Oh man that must tie the righties’ underwear up in knots. In fact…
But it is also a potential political liability at home; already, Republicans are criticizing the president, contending he won more for his “star power” than his actual achievements.
You know, actual achievements like 9/11, the failed response to Hurricane Katrina, disastrous missionless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the greatest economic meltdown since the Great Depression and other highlights of the Bush administration.
In one sense, the award was a rebuke to the foreign policies of Mr. Obama’s predecessor,George W. Bush, some of which the president has sought to overturn. Mr. Obama made repairing the fractured relations between the United States and the rest of the world a major theme of his campaign for the presidency. Since taking office as president he has pursued a range of policies intended to fulfill that goal. He has vowed to pursue a world without nuclear weapons, as he did in a speech in Prague earlier this year; reached out to the Muslim world, delivering a major speech in Cairo in June; and sought to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
“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,” the committee said in its citation. “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.”
The world still looks to the United States for leadership, moral and otherwise. Here’s hoping President Obama has the strength, ability and opportunity to deliver on today’s recognition.
Well judging by all the idiot conspiracy theories and the furious cut and paste in the open thread?
Indeed.. Indeed..
It is worthwhile noting the stunted, third-grade level response of some republicans:
Wow: Talk about the inability to work together, to be gracious, to work with others….consider the response of one Michael Steele (official head of the republican party):
“
What an amazing lack of cooperation, respect or logic.
1. What a mean, bitter, statement…I mean where is the following classy statement?
“congratulations, we look forward to working together on the problems facing America and the world and making this a safer and more sustainable world”
Do these people have no class? Are they all like Puddy and Stamn? Can they only criticize, carp and whine? What immature brats?
Winning a Nobel Peace Prize is about as significant as winning a free hash browns in the McDonald’s Monopoly game.
Its been a complete joke since Yasser Arafat won.
Obama better watch it, I don’t think there’s much change left in his hope jar, and the balance of his promise account is getting low.
I have to admit my first reaction to the news was “Huh?”
Upon further reflection, this has to be an indication of how very differently the United States under the neocons has been viewed by rest of the world than by those of us, even moderates, looking from within our borders and enjoying the benefits that still accrue from living here. The head of the Nobel committee so much as said as much when the same award was given to Gore a few years ago–but we were all too troubled to listen.
Great job, Republicans…you managed to turn the guardian of freedom and the envy of all peoples into a nearly bankrupt rogue nation that was seen as such a threat to worldwide security that merely putting you out of office and expressing the mere intention of reversing some of your excesses was seen as heroic.
BEFORE THE TROLLS …
Any patriotic American will see this for what it is …
an acknowledgement that Mr. Obama has put the US back on a track to moral leadership of the world.
NOW
Americans, including the loyal opposition (if such exists) should join behind this leader in working toward peace.
Surely this does not mean agreeing with Mr. Obama. Some of the real loyal opposition, those on the left, have every reason to argue for a more isolationist point f view. The patriotic neocons (and they DO exist) should be making their case as well.
BUT .. the stink that arose immediately from the Radical Right Remnant should be placed in the trashbin of of American self hate alongside Jane Fonda’s worst Vietnam speaches. Charles Limburg’s paens to Hitler, and Jo McCarthy.
Is this too early an award? The Norwegians have a long tradition of giving the Peace prize to encourage effort, not merely to recognize it after it has happened. Lech Walessa and Andrei Sakharov won their prizes before anyone believed their efforts could come t pass. Burma remains Burma with its Nobelist in jail.
How it can it be too early for the world to join together to promote peace?
Not that the Nobel folks haven’t made mistakes. As a prime example, take Henry Kissinger-please!
People are wondering what Obama should do with the cash prize.
Off the top of my head I think he should make his decision on Afghanistan and then donate it to the groups doing the best relief work there.
Of course so many other places in the world are in conflict and need the relief as well.
The money barely counts as a drop in the bucket.
The whole aegis of the Nobel Prizes was after all created in the memory of a man whose good intentions haven’t yet been realized.
@6 AF
Please ..
at a time like this I do not think dissing the Norwegians is the right thing to do. Whatever you may think of Kissinger, the intent of the Committee was clear then, as it is now. They were encouraging eace rather than rewarding achievement.
I can give you a much worse example. Some years ago I was involved with an effort to rescue a scientist in Moscow. This person, a colleague of mine, was being threatened by Chazov, the then Minister of Health and recipient with others f a Nobel Peace Prize for his part in the effort to contain nuclear weapons. Chazov was a KGB polikut (political plant) and as offensive a soviet apparatchik as you can imagine. I met his POS and listened to stories as bizarre as those of Sarah Palin, though he needed t look East to see Alaska, about the evils of the USA.
Did Chazov deserve a Nobel? No way! Did the Norwegians do the right thing in encouraging peace? Yes!
It’s a big Thank You to the American Voter.
y
7. Puddy
GREAT IDEA!!!!
That is exactly what I hoped you would say.
SJ,
Puuuuulease! That Poseur is ylb arschloch. See the left eye of libtardo porn with the flashing neon vacancy light in it?
Barack Hussein Obama! Mmm, mmm, mmm. Barack Hussein Obama! Mmm, mmm, mmm should give that money to the mother of the slain 16 year old Chicago kid. Now that would bring peace to a troubled neighborhood! And… he should make the presentation himself.
Calling ylb arschloch Puddy caused you to lose some erudite status points.
@12 I was just about to correct SJ, and point out that nothing so lucid as comment #7 could be expected to come from the “real” Puddy.
@12 Puddy
Read your own post again, Jokester.
Sockpuppet aside the comment made in your anme was and is what all good people should hope for.
What good does it do to belong to a committed church when you spew so little of the level that is the best part f what your religion has ever stood for?
Are you in the Chazov camp where a Nobel is some sort of pin ball trophy? What would YOUR jesus do now? Wish BHO well in his efforts to make peace or mieww cat calls?
@13 Tx AF
As a friend of Puddy, I wish this once he would drop the act.
All you guys do is complain and bitch about Obama this and Obama that, what has he done to you that Bush didn’t start, Hello wasn’t Bush the one that started the war ? Or wasn’t he the reason Gas went sky high, also he’s the reason we lost our jobs and our houses are in foreclosure since Obama came in office I was able to afford school, and make something out of my self you people that talk all this nonsense about one’s accomplishments are simply selfish ignorant morons who have nothing better to do but throw your tea partys and juice up prejudice if he had been a White man you would be happy and cheering but because he is black you are talking shit and spreading nothing but hate if you even dare claim to be a christian I cast your sorry asses to hell. Because of Obama your un-employed asses are able to log online and talk and spread this hate, I mean think about all the drama in florida with everything going on Republicans did this to our Country not Obama and if you believe everything the press says you are a stupid fuck, Wake up people wake the hell up.
And yes I’m proud to be BLACK
Goldy–
You forgot this quote…which I agree strong with:
Breaking news…
The NBA is considering awarding the obama the MVP for the upcoming season.
After all, he did block the shot of reggie love once.
No doubt MLB will award the obama MVPs for both the NL and AL.
After all, his awards aren’t from accomplishments but for hope and change.
I like to think of it as positive reinforcement.
Kinda nice to have a “rock star” in the White House after 8 tedious years of a mendacious monkey.
Gee, Obama has been prez for less than a year and already has a Nobel, while the only organizations interested in inviting Dubya to speaking engagements are grand juries. Here’s slapping ya in the face, Shrub!
When I heard it, I thought the Beeb was joking. Everybody I told thought I was joking.
The best explanation so far is that it’s a Prize for Peace, Tit-For-Tat Division … just a way of giving Bush a thumb in the eye.
Anyway, great material for Jon Stewart.
he did get a black professor and a white cop to have a beer together…
Won the nobel peace prize? For what?……this sugar coated turd has no accomplishments other than adequately reading from a teleprompter.
This prize is now almost as relevant as the last pick in the NFL draft.
When Carter won the award, it was also described as a snub of W. Bush, so this Obama award is sort of a parting shot. But I thought Carter deserved the award, where Obama has yet to prove himself.
There must be some calculus here that giving Obama the NPP will make it harder for him to expand wars against Afghanistan (whoever we’re fighting there) and start something new with Iran.
‘President Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize’
You gotta be fucking kidding me. For what? This is an insult to the recipients that REALLY deserve it.
A french internet poll finds 70% do not believe obama deserves the nobel peace prize.
The Milk Chocolate Messiah says he’s gonna donate the money to charity. That’s good, but wouldn’t it be better to take the money, pay 35% tax on it, then give the rest to a charity – like ME for instance!!
Look at the bright spot for the guys who will be transporting the MCM over to Oslo to pick-up the booty: those guys are gonna be treated like roadies of some great rocks star. Shit, the Nordie girls will be sopping wet and dropping their panties all over Oslo just to screw one of Obama’s secret service guys or some of the Air Force guys who’ll be bringing along one of those armor-plated cars for Obama to ride to the award ceremony in. What a nice Christmas for our boys in blue and the secret service dudes!!
Obama’s ego and head are so large his elephant ears are starting to fit.
Somebody please save us from this idiot!!!
A couple of the other 172 people that were considered that the obama beat out for the trophy.
Chinese Human Rights Activist Hu Jia – imprisoned for campaigning for human rights in the PRC.
Wei Jingsheng, who spent 17 years in Chinese prisons for urging reforms of China’s communist system.
Greg Mortenson, founder of the Central Asia Institute has built nearly 80 schools, especially for girls, in remote areas of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past 15 years.
Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, a philosophy professor in Jordan who risks his life by advocating interfaith dialogue between Jews and Muslims.
Afghan human rights activist Sima Samar. She currently leads the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and serves as the U.N. special envoy to Darfur.
Yup, the obama has given much better speeches than all of them combined.
Marvie @ 26
Has it really gotten so desperate for you that you resort to citing a “French internet poll” as authoritative, or even instructive, about anything? Damn, it must be tough for you righties out there.
Did you hear about the poll before I linked to it?
See, I’m just giving you the information the left-wing media you pay attention to won’t.
Say, did you hear about the randi rhodes – olbermann thing?
27. Politically Incorrect spews:
The Milk Chocolate Messiah says he’s gonna donate the money to charity. That’s good, but wouldn’t it be better to take the money, pay 35% tax on it, then give the rest to a charity – like ME for instance!!
Hay twit ,,,
look at the effin tax law.
The money will be saved, the Obamas will then get a deduction for their gift.
why would we be surprised. al gore won. that can never be topped.
And I thought Gore winning was funny! This takes the cake! Apparently I’m not enlightened.
Only five more years until the earth is scorched and uninhabitable.
@34 Geez, Mark, you didn’t even call our President a “jigaboo” this time. Are you off your feed?
Oh, don’t worry, Mark. Marvin would never call you a racist.
You see, Mark, it’s Friday night and Marvin’s no doubt busy getting “dumbed down”, as he likes to call it.
I want to win a prize and a bunch of money for doing nothing!
the only thing you idiots ever talk about is racism. let me enlighten you.
there are millions of african-americans in this country. putting aside our current economic downturn, most companies would be happy to hire a qualified minority if for no other reason than defense against accusations of discrimination. there are all kinds of laws against discrimination, and if anything, things are retarted when you get accused of racism ala skip gates or joe wilson. so, here’s why they nake racism such a crime. everyone is trained in this country to believe racism is the worst crime you can commit. now, the federal reserve is run by a jew and the 6 governors of the fed are jewish, i think there used to be one white female gentile. trillions of dollars have been diveted by the fed to israel/switzerland and the cayman islands. now, can you imagine any politician in his right mind acussing the fed of diverting money to israel. i know, its all crazy because the world is full of such pious men they’d never do that. except of course, bush and cheney.
SJ,
What’s wrong with my comment besides the truth.
1) ylb arschloch is a poseur. That comment wasn’t made in Puddy’s name. Did you see the evil brown eye as the gravitar?
2) The Obama Song – Barack Hussein Obama! Mmm, mmm, mmm. Barack Hussein Obama! Mmm, mmm, mmm is still appropriate as it’s still being promulgated by leftists.
3) The Peace Prize money would do that poor mother good. It would show Barack Hussein Obama! Mmm, mmm, mmm. Barack Hussein Obama! Mmm, mmm, mmm has compassion for his old adopted town and the home town of his wife.
4) It would go a long way to “healing” the community as it show Barack Hussein Obama! Mmm, mmm, mmm. Barack Hussein Obama! Mmm, mmm, mmm is really interested in this issue.
That’s what Puddy said and Puddy is sticking to it.
SJ,
Puddy never heard of Chazov camp and Puddy isn’t interested in learning it since you are using it to attack Puddy!
SJ,
For 5 years Puddy has watch your peeps on HA call GWB a chimp, a monkey, an ape, a moron, a nut, an idiot, Hitler, the devil, Satan, etc. So for me to first use a name seven congressional and liberal MSM people called him — “the messiah” and then later use the song Puddy thinks is not only very tame and it’s positive.
Oh, you were posting over here about me.
I guess that explains why you didn’t have more posts on the other thread about me.
I’d rather have a CIC in the WH than a rock star. Nobel Peace Prize is fine (it’s a political award, nothing more considering the former PLO leader received), I’d rather the CIC spend his time addressing the needs of our troops in Afhanistan that are desperately lacking the resources to get the job done. That would be an accomplishment.
@44 Uh-huh. And which president (and political party) starved our effort in Afghanistan of troops and equipment in order to invade a country that didn’t threaten or attack us? Hmmm?
The trouble with these fucking trolls is they not only fail to grasp subtleties, even if you hit them with a brick they still don’t comprehend. They’re that stupid.
Another problem with the sophomoric screed @44 is that wars aren’t static. They change. For example, MacArthur, an overrated general if there ever was one, initially failed to grasp that China’s entry into the Korean War changed that conflict’s tactical dynamics. Well, the situation in Afghanistan has changed since 2001, too. Applying “CIC” to Bush insults the term, because the Taliban had all but recaptured Afghanistan by the time he left office, about which he did absolutely nothing. It was as if his head was stuck in freeze-frame. So don’t preach to me about military leadership, LITTLE BOY, until you juveniles demonstrate some. I not only can read a fucking map, I’ve seen real battlefields. Now shut up and get back in your playpen where you belong.
Hurry up left-wingnuts.
ESPN has a “make your heisman vote count” webpage up.
They have a spot you can “Type your nominee here” option.
Fill in obamas name and maybe he could win a heisman.
so what exactly has he done to earn the award?
what a joke – and an insult to many of the previous winners.
“The Milk Chocolate Messiah says he’s gonna donate the money to charity. That’s good, but wouldn’t it be better to take the money, pay 35% tax on it, then give the rest to a charity – like ME for instance!!
Hay twit ,,,
look at the effin tax law.
The money will be saved, the Obamas will then get a deduction for their gift.”
SJ Troll Patrol,
Actually, I was thinking Obama would go ahead and pay the income taxes so the government could get a nice cut of the Nobel money, then he could donate the rest to charity (like me!). I should have been more clear in my post at 27. Obama should initially keep the money, pay 35% taxes, then donate the remaining $0.91 million to me.
That way everybody is happy: Obama gets to contribute to government (which will be great PR for him), and I get enough to retire on.
Works for me!!!
The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke. It lost all credibality when they gave the award to the mass-murdering terrorist Yasser Arafat. If he gets one then where was Hitler’s.