Motive Behind the Nobel Peace Prize

Call me a skeptic, but it seems to me there is something fishy about Obama's recent receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize. Why did he receive it? I dunno, let's analyze it a bit, and see if we can come to a conclusion.

Let's start with the prize committee's explanation:

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.
Strengthen international diplomacy... Ok, but what about Iran getting nukes, Poland fed to the sharks, Russia's firm commitment to sabotage us at every turn, Cuba, Venezuela, Libya, North Korea, Afghanistan, etc., etc., etc. He may have made efforts, but I fail to see any fruit of his labor.

A world without nuclear weapons? Iran? North Korea? Pakistan? Russia? I don't see any of them rushing to discharge. Saying we won't build a missile shield, and letting Russian officials tour our nuclear facilities isn't disarmament, it's an invitation to nuke us.

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 USA 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.
"Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts." So he got this for not being George Bush? That crazy warmongering cowboy? What dialogue and negotiation has gone on in Afghanistan?

Climate change? Didn't Al Gore already pick up an award for that? Also, what constructive role are you talking about? Cash for clunkers?

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.
Hope. Hope is one thing, action is another.

Leading the world under values and attitudes shared by the world? Yeah, abandoning the values and attitudes that made America the greatest country in the world, now that's a great idea. What country wouldn't want to be more like Norway?

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."
"...precisely that international policy and those attitudes..." Ah, perhaps here lies the key. They gave him the award to stimulate the international policy they see as being appropriate. Perhaps the committee used this award to sway Obama's, and in turn the United State's, foreign and domestic policy, into something a little more in line with the "shared international attitudes and values."

What else could be the reason behind the award?

Well, it could be a rock star award. These guys could be sipping the kool-aide, hanging up Obama posters in their rooms, and gushing over his his physique like school girls.

Perhaps this award was the not George Bush award.

Perhaps this was a message to the American people, saying, act more like Europe, and the world will like you more. Act more like Europe by electing socialists like Obama.

What does the media have to say?

NY Post:

The prize seems to be more for Obama’s promise than for his performance. Work on the president’s ambitious agenda, both at home and abroad, is barely underway, much less finished. He has no standout moment of victory that would seem to warrant a verdict as sweeping as that issued by the Nobel committee.

And what about peace? Obama is running two wars in the Muslim world — in Iraq and Afghanistan — and can’t get a climate change bill through his own Congress.

His scorecard for the year is largely an “incomplete,” if he’s being graded.
Breitbart:

The Nobel committee praised Obama's creation of "a new climate in international politics" and said he had returned multilateral diplomacy and institutions like the U.N. to the center of the world stage. The plaudit appeared to be a slap at President George W. Bush from a committee that harshly criticized Obama's predecessor for resorting to largely unilateral military action in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Rather than recognizing concrete achievement, the 2009 prize appeared intended to support initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.
UK Times:

The choice of Mr Obama came as a complete surprise – the frontrunners for the last Nobel prize of the year included the Chinese dissident Hu Jia and the Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba. It also prompted widespread controversy.

Mr Obama was elected America's first black president last December and assumed office on January 20 – which means that he had been in office less than two weeks by the time nominations closed on February 1.

Although the Nobel jurors were allowed to consider his actions after that date, he has still been in the White House for under a year and has yet to deliver on any of the major foreign policy initiatives upon which he has embarked.
I think that the last paragraph of the committee's explanation says it all. "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, and the international community see this guy as an opportunity to change America. They feel like, by giving him this award, they will spur him into keeping his promises, and changing America to be more like the rest of the world.

What do you think?

1 comments:

Rebecca said...

Doesn't the vote take place in February? How many days was Obama in office when the actually voted?

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