Obama Peace Prize?!

[legolas3333]

hmm i read he won it for "Diplomacy and Aspirations"
I aspire to fix world hunger, end all wars and create a loving world
where do i pick up my noble?

[Kralik]

Apparently somebody censored my title. If the Telegraph got away with it, why can't I? 

EDIT: [rant] Bugger the censorship. I'm one of the youngest people on here, and anyone who doesn't know what 'wtf' means is obviously too young to be browsing the internet!! [/end rant]

GT, I changed the title to make it more descriptive of your complaint. Don't push it.

[Yanko Markovic]

Really, I like Obama, but let's be realistic. Obama made a bunch of great promises, they give him the prize so he actually fulfills his promises. That's it. They're using the prize as an insurance to make him do things, and not the other way around.

[Elrohir]

 

[Treebeard13]

My reaction was like many, 'what has he done?'.  There is no doubt in my mind that it is as much a token of hope as it is a dig against George, who was very disliked by many in Europe.  I happened to be in Europe last November during  the week of elections and I was quite surprised at how disliked Bush and his administration was.

I am curious about a couple of comments.  One was that this was partisan politics.  How can this be?  There are no U.S. Democrats or U.S. Republicans on the committee so how can this in any way be partisan politics?  The reaction to it in the U.S. has been very much partisan and that of course is business as usual.

The other comment was that if this award was going to be political then why have it.  This award has always been political and there are always, in some group's mind, a better and more deserving candidate.  Even in the science awards there are politics played.  The story has been that Einstein was disliked by some committee members and that was why he never got a Nobel for his theories on relativity.  Only after acheiving such world wide fame was he given one for some other work he did.  After each of these awards are made someone will make a case for how some person or persons were much more deserving.  It's just that for the vast majority of people the debate between one physics project and another is.... well, basically who cares? 

So, bottom line, the award has been given.  We in the U.S. have little if any control.  So, congratulations, it is a great honor and some how life goes on.

Chuck

[jdizzy001]

He didn't do anything to deserve it.  As lurtz pointed out, he was in office 11 days when he was nominated.  It has nothing to do with his promises.  It was all politics.  He doesn't deserve it and the award should be stripped from him.  My own father has done more to help American politics, and the economy, by working, really working, every day of his adult life.  Where is my dad's nobel peace prize?

[Not a Zombie]

While I agree with you jdizzy, I agree with treabeard more. The award was given, whether he deserved it or not, and that is that.  Politically based or not, the committee chose Obama, not visa versa, so get mad at them if anyone. Better yet, let it go and focus on more important things.

[Treebeard13]

Better yet, let it go and focus on more important things.

Amen

[GarrisonofGondor]

All I have to say is I have no respect for Obama, I think everyone is in for a rough 4 years, and he should not have won the peace prize.

[TheJord]

I really think there are worse things happening in the world than Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. You think you are going to have a rough 4 years? How about those in developing countries?

Not to be all high and mighty, but get some perspective

[jdizzy001]

Jord is right.  Now that Obama and his minions have U.S. tax dollars wrapped up in debt for the next 10 years, who is going to send humanitarian aid to developing countries when a natural disater strikes?

[MR. Lurtzy]

 

[Treebeard13]

It is always amusing to me on how blindly devoted most Americans are to one political view or another and can always reduce a complex problem to the fault of one party or the other.  Perhaps that is why we have such trouble really resolving the issues at hand.  It is also why we always get what we probably deserve.

I am very concerned about the soaring national debt.  It has always been a very real concern but it always seems to be a bigger concern to those who support the party not in power than the one in power.

In 1947, due to World War II, the accumulated national debt was >120% of the GDP.  For the next 30 plus years it steadily dropped to about 35%.  Then Ronald Reagan came into office and promptly put an end to that and by the time George I left it was back up to close to 70%.  It began to fall under Clinton and then went back up for George II.  That's not to say that there weren't some extenuating circumstances that may or may not have been viable reasons for driving the debt up.  Based on the views of a number of economists the current situation is one of those and had we not driven up the debt then we might have seen a real depression.  Who knows?  I'm not an economist.

The accumulated debt is the fault of both parties.  No matter who won last year's election the experts were predicting a record increase.    Also the last report I saw stated that 1.3 trillion was the legacy of George II.

For someone who foolishly paid off his house and has no accumulated credit card debt it really bothers me that this nation has pushed itself so far in debt.  My biggest fear is that we will have learned nothing and all this pain will be for naught.  To blame one person or one party is absolutely ludicrous.  As long as we the public fall into this trap of being blindly devoted to one view or another with no compromise then it will continue to be politics as normal.  But most Americans are generally poorly informed of the issues and tend to only listen to views that re-inforce the belief they already hold.  Again, we are getting exactly what we deserve.

[Gil-Estel]

You honor your name well TB13....

[jdizzy001]

I am in agreance, both parties are to blame for our current debt situation, but awarding a man the nobel peace prize who has done nothing to deserve it is bad form.  The prize is to be awarded to those who SHALL do something to increase world peace.  Heck, did you all hear, I'll be awarded next years peace prize.  I did nothing to end the war in iraq, i did nothing to bring the troops home, and I haven't turned afgahnastan into a peace loving paradise!  (Thank you bernard goldberg)