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rhienellethAre you kidding me?
I'm doing something extremely rare, and breaking my politics free zone with this.
So, President Obama gets to stand with people like Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa? Giving this award to our President for things he hasn't done yet, is flat out ridiculous. I'm sorry if you don't agree. It doesn't matter if he's the best president we've ever had, or if he's floundering under the weight of everything facing him - (yeah, so let's put more pressure on him by giving him this prestigious award and saying "Now, you'd better earn that, Mr. President!") - the Nobel Peace Prize should not be an award given for what someone might do.
Mother Teresa. She spent her entire life doing things that earned her that nomination/award. Obama won a presidential election, and has been in office for less than a year. I don't think the things he's accomplished in that time quite measure up.
They could have easily nominated him after his four years of service (and it IS service), if his actions in that time warranted it. But no, they did it now, and awarded it to him, and I quote "in a stunning decision designed to encourage his initiatives..."
Yeah, because that's what this prize is for - to push people into doing what you think they should do!
Obama seems stunned and flabbergasted by this, at least, but again, I'm not so sure it's a good idea to put more pressure on him, guys. And that's what this is, especially because he seems to feel (correctly) that he hasn't earned it yet.
Who were the other nominees this year? Well, they won't tell us, but quoted from MSN this morning:
"Until seconds before the award, speculation had focused on a wide variety of candidates besides Obama: Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a Colombian senator, a Chinese dissident and an Afghan woman's rights activist, among others. The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year's prize."
Possibly because of my recent following of the what happened in Tehran, the plight many women suffer in other countries, the unnamed Afghan woman's rights activist sticks out to me in particular. I want to know her story.
I'm doing something extremely rare, and breaking my politics free zone with this.
So, President Obama gets to stand with people like Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa? Giving this award to our President for things he hasn't done yet, is flat out ridiculous. I'm sorry if you don't agree. It doesn't matter if he's the best president we've ever had, or if he's floundering under the weight of everything facing him - (yeah, so let's put more pressure on him by giving him this prestigious award and saying "Now, you'd better earn that, Mr. President!") - the Nobel Peace Prize should not be an award given for what someone might do.
Mother Teresa. She spent her entire life doing things that earned her that nomination/award. Obama won a presidential election, and has been in office for less than a year. I don't think the things he's accomplished in that time quite measure up.
They could have easily nominated him after his four years of service (and it IS service), if his actions in that time warranted it. But no, they did it now, and awarded it to him, and I quote "in a stunning decision designed to encourage his initiatives..."
Yeah, because that's what this prize is for - to push people into doing what you think they should do!
Obama seems stunned and flabbergasted by this, at least, but again, I'm not so sure it's a good idea to put more pressure on him, guys. And that's what this is, especially because he seems to feel (correctly) that he hasn't earned it yet.
Who were the other nominees this year? Well, they won't tell us, but quoted from MSN this morning:
"Until seconds before the award, speculation had focused on a wide variety of candidates besides Obama: Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a Colombian senator, a Chinese dissident and an Afghan woman's rights activist, among others. The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year's prize."
Possibly because of my recent following of the what happened in Tehran, the plight many women suffer in other countries, the unnamed Afghan woman's rights activist sticks out to me in particular. I want to know her story.
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-09 06:08 pm (UTC)He hasn't even had a chance yet to do what he's aiming to do - and he's awarded for what precisely? I'll admit I'm no fan of his in the first place, but really, how can anyone who isn't a completely irrational Obama fanboy argue that he deserves this?
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Date: 2009-10-09 06:46 pm (UTC)http://www.jfklibrary.org/Education+and+Public+Programs/Profile+in+Courage+Award/Award+Recipients/Sima+Samar/
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Date: 2009-10-09 06:51 pm (UTC)And this just makes me more sad that apparently the things she's accomplished and continues to fight for do not measure up to what Obama has not yet even done, at least in the eyes of the Nobel committee.
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Date: 2009-10-09 06:47 pm (UTC)Others here, ignore the source if you are so inclined, it's just the first source I've seen for the list.
Obama had been in office 11 days when he was nominated.
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Date: 2009-10-09 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-09 07:05 pm (UTC)I'm too much of a political-phobe to address these things on my own, so it was nice to see on my flist today someone voicing my thoughts on it better than I could have.
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Date: 2009-10-09 07:37 pm (UTC)But otoh, imagine the cartoons if Obama ends up ordering air strikes against Iran or something. epic!
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Date: 2009-10-10 01:24 am (UTC)Exactly. I like Obama and all, but I want to know what the Nobel committee was smoking.
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Date: 2009-10-10 02:08 am (UTC)I can't speak on what it should or shouldn't be, but that's something different from what it is or isn't.
To quote an AP article about misconceptions about the Nobel Peace prize:
The major reason that the citation awarding him the prize states is his de-nuclearization stance, which is genuinely a BIG deal wrt international relations.
It's true that people can't help but to compare him to Bush and go WELL SHIT AT LEAST HE IS NOT THAT and that very likely did influence this to a certain extent. But that doesn't actually diminish how huge and pretty much unprecedented it is for the leader of a "first world" nuclear-enabled nation to actually take steps towards de-nuclearization not just for other countries, but for their own. De-nuclearization discourse has always been a nest of hypocrisy and academic theory without action. He's actually trying to take action.
They gave him the prize to encourage him to continue doing that, which is within the realms of what the prize is used for, regardless of how much you or I might agree with it. Also, I really disagree with the implication that giving the prize to Obama is akin to telling all the other nominees FUK U! YOU SUCK! or NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOU!
If they had given the prize to Sima Samar, that wouldn't be them giving the finger to Wei Jingsheng and the other nominees or saying that they are undeserving and I doubt many people would perceive it that way. So, I see little reason to perceive Obama receiving it that way.
All said, I'm sort of ambivalent about him receiving the prize myself, but I think acting like they just handed it to him like a party favor is overstating it quite a bit.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-10 04:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-11 03:44 am (UTC)I almost feel like it would have been better all around if he had gotten this after he had served his term, because not only would it seem to make more sense, but there would hopefully be less argument about whether or not he deserves it. Right now, it's all getting overshadowed by people like me saying "Wait, what?" even if we're very much for the man and what he will hopefully accomplish.