Wall Street Journal: “The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to President Obama yesterday was greeted with astonishment as much as any other emotion, even among many of his admirers. Our own reaction is bemusement at the Norwegian decision to offer what amounts to the world’s first futures prize in diplomacy, with the Nobel Committee anticipating the heroic concessions that it believes Mr. Obama will make to secure treaties that will produce a new era of global serenity.”
Washington Post: “It’s an odd Nobel Peace Prize that almost makes you embarrassed for the honoree. In blessing President Obama, the Nobel Committee intended to boost what it called his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” A more suitable time for the prize would have been after those efforts had borne some fruit.”
New York Daily News: “The Nobel Peace Prize committee members made fools of themselves in bestowing the honor on President Obama and very nearly did him the same disservice.
He is fortunate to have made the best of an idiotic decision.”
[More]
Notes:
I haven’t said much about this situation because what can I say that others haven’t? Perhaps that Norwegians should be a lot more upset with their committee than anyone in the US? There’s a thought and I looked for something this AM with no success but then I don’t speak the language and English newspapers from that country appear rather sparce on the net.
Perhaps it doesn’t matter to the countries that award the Nobel Prize that they have been made to look like complete idiots but it should. Then there’s Obama and I leave it to active imaginations to wonder just how helpful this has been to him.
That Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has held an emergency meeting this morning and has decided to preempt its awards show this spring by awarding Best Picture of 2009 to Barack Obama.
Said spokesperson for the Academy, Ben Affleck, “while we recognize that President Obama hasn’t actually made a movie this year, we feel that were he to make a movie, it would be genius.”
The White House reacted with shock at news. David Axelrod, speaking for the President, said, “we are humbled by the recognition. We consider this award a downpayment on the epic film that the President will make one day.”
http://chuckercanuck.blogspot.com/2009/10/breaking-news-president-obama-wins.html
Reading through the reports and comments regarding Obama’s acceptance of said award I am waiting for the backlash. It will be huge and the people who will suffer most will not be Obama.
It will be the people (countries) who represent Alfred Nobel. They have turned a fine idea into a joke.
The Pope just canonized five old white guys but NOT President Obama, the US Administration should launch a diplomatic protest – what is the Pope thinking?!