Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize… For What?

I’m going to start off by saying Congratulations Mr. President… Although I’m not really sure what you’ve done to warrant such a prestigious award as the Nobel Peace Prize:

President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for giving the world “hope for a better future” and striving for nuclear disarmament, in a surprise award that drew both warm praise and sharp criticism.

The decision to bestow one of the world’s top accolades on a president less than nine months into his first term, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” But critics — especially in parts of the Arab and Muslim world — called its decision premature.

Obama’s press secretary woke him with the news before dawn and the president felt “humbled” by the award, a senior administration official said.

It appears that Pres. Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for what he might possibly accomplish at some point in the future not anything he’s actually done… That seems to be the story of his life though, from a community organizer to an Illinois state senator (who voted present 129 times) to a U.S. Senator for 143 days before moving to the White House Barack Obama’s life has about the  hope for great things rather than concrete accomplishments.

This hopefully will be the finally nail in the Nobel Peace Prize Committee’s coffin… This is the third time in last seven years the Committee has turned the Peace prize into a frak George W. Bush award by giving it to a liberal Democrat of dubious accomplishment. The fact that a Chinese dissident and an Afghan women’s rights activist lost out to “Hope and Change” speaks volumes about the Committee’s priorities.

Anyway, again Congratulations Mr. President.

Edit: I should add that according the Nobel Prize Committee’s own web site Barack Obama had to have been nominated for the prize barely two weeks after taking office… Even by the fairly broad requirements for the Peace Prize left by Alfred Nobel in his will this is a highly dubious decision by the Committee.

“and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

Given his lack of accomplishment one has to wonder how Pres. Obama even qualified as a candidate.

Related

• Nobel Committee’s Decision Courts Controversy – Wall Street Journal
• Comment: absurd decision on Obama makes a mockery of the Nobel peace prize – Times Online
• Analysis: He won, but for what? – Associated Press
• Surprise! President Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize – ABC News