Mr. President Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. How do you feel about the decision?
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M$23 Answers
A very similar question has been asked recently. I'll link to it. Note: It has inspired lively debate. ^_^
Here was my answer . . . .
Obama absolutely deserves it.
I don't agree with everything he does, however he is a huge global voice for nuclear disarmament. Few could argue that this is a huge step toward world peace.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=obama-nobel-peace
. . . but don't take my word for it, The European Commission President thinks he is quite deserving.
JosÉ Manuel Barroso, European Commission President
"A tribute to President Obama's commitment to the values of peace and progress of humanity. This award is an encouragement for engagement by all those who can contribute to bring about a safer world."
. . . then again I will say the Taliban is very disapointed.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman
"He has done nothing for peace in Afghanistan ... We condemn the award of the Nobel Peace Prize for Obama."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091009/wl_time/08599192939300
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M$
The Obama has been in office for less than a year and he gets the Nobel Peace Prize. Jimmy Carter didn't get the Prize until 20 years after leaving the presidency. Al Gore spent years banging the drum on global warming and other environmental dilemmas before receiving the Prize two years ago.(http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/a-little-soon-for-the-nobel-peace-prize/)
What really angers me is that Mohandas K. Gandhi never received the Prize and yet Obama does even though many Americans don't believe he has yet accomplished anything.(http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/07/nobel_peace_prize_also_rans)
I just find it upsetting that there were others who were nominated that deserved itc more. Such as Liu Xiaobo who is currently imprisoned for his criticism of the Chinese govt. and being involved in the pro-democracy movement.(http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/07/nobel_peace_prize_also_rans?page=0,6) Or Morgan Tsvangirai who after years protesting against the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe manages to get in a position of power within the govt. and put an end to the hyperinflation in the country. Now Zimbabwe's economy is seeing actual growth, which is something Obama has yet to do in the US.(http://www.newsweek.com/id/216212)
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M$
so you are saying Zimbabwe is in a better economic situation right now?
now when I vote helpful or unhelpful it is not because I disagree with someone, I voted helpful here because you raised some interesting points about others that could have gotten the prize and were probably more deserving.
Does it hurt if the president of united states is now a nobel prize recipient, the nobel prize committee has decided that president obama is the only leader working for world peace.
Did you vote my answer unhelpful because I failed to answer the question, or because my answer spoke well of Obama? Does it matter that JosÉ Manuel Barroso thinks he deserved it, if not why not?
Well, don´t worry. I won´t be one of them. You are absolutelly right on your assertion. Barack Obamas has achieved NOTHING.
You my friend are absolutely correct. Many people with whom one does not agree with politically are often times deserving of the praise and awards they receive. One may not agree with their ideology as a whole, but one can respect and recognize their merit. One may find their goals misguided, but one can recognize their effort, dedication and sacrifice.
In this situation, their is no effort, no dedication, no sacrifice. It makes a mockery of the prize. It seems like a cheap publicity stunt brought about by the movie tycoons of the old studio-system Hollywood of the 20's.30's and 40's when they were trying to drum up star value for their latest actor under contract.
Most other recipients I can at least say did posses merit, dedication, effort and sacrifice. Barack Obama, up until now has been, as Benedict Brogan of the UK's Telegraph said "the barely man of world politics, barely a senator now barely a president" and now a Nobel prize winner.
Well, time will tell whether he fills these NBA sized shoes. This will either be looked back as the quintessential predictive illumination of greatness, or will be seen akin to GW Bush landing on that aircraft carrier and declaring that hostilities are over.
Hey, maybe this is all just to balance out the accomplishment count on that SNL skit?
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100013071/nobel-prize-for-president-obama-is-a-shocker-he-should-turn-it-down/
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32393
Yes, the Nobel Prize is just a popularity contest where the entire student body just voted that guy Obama prom king.
Watch out, people will call you bad names.
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M$
It is like tipping the waiter just for taking the order for the dinner at a restaurent.
This is not Obama's fault, but the Nobel prize committee's. I look at the award as a burden not a prize. They should have waited until his first term is complete.
I don't understand why people are making this into some Democratic Versus Republican thing. They shouldn't. The physiological meaning behind Mr. Obama being given this award is baseless and insulting, to say the least and I am personally insulted. This is nothing more than a down-payment on what Mr. Obama EXPECTS to achieve. What if he fails to achieve anything, later on, down the line? Would they take it back? It just doesn't make sense to me. I wish people would understand that this is NOT a personal attack against Mr. Obama; at least not for me. Mr. Obama himself appeared surprised. If the President really wanted to appear noble, he would have turned down the Prize and insist it is given to someone more deserving. Instead he has helped to make the receipt of the award a meaningless farce. The President hasn't even said he deserves this Prize and I doubt that he ever will. Indeed, it doesn't matter who the individual is that received the award, but rather it ought to matter why the award was given and whether or not the recipient is deserving of the award. Mr. Obama hasn't done anything YET. Makes me wonder who else the rules were compromised for. Other recipients should be shocked themselves. It’s somewhat of an insult, if you ask me. I actually no longer respect the Nobel Prize as a result of this. There are no accomplishments YET. Anyone, regardless of party or race, should want the standards of the Nobel Peace Prize or any other of such awards to be held high. Otherwise, why have it? Just my opinion.
There are the same amount of nuclear weapons (if not more) as a year ago, the israelis and the palestinians can't agree to even meet, and jewish settlements are still being built in occupied land even after Obama's ultimatum. Iran, while sometimes edging closer to talks, is worse than this time last year, now they don't even have free elections and dissent is punished more brutally than ever. North Korea has tested nuclear weapons, short and long range missiles since the start of the year.
These problems are not Obama's fault, but it does bring into question what peace he has brought about. I admire his take on diplomacy, it's much needed, but I don't understand why the Nobel Prize Committee has rushed to award him; he will be president for another 3 years at least, and will probably go on to do more peace work when he isn't president; so why now, with nothing acheived and just a few months in office?
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M$
pixelsilva
Not that it matters but Mr. Obama is biracial. He is black just as much as he is white. I have biracial children. I am black (Bahamas) and my husband is Italian-American. My children are biracial.
Exactly.
He won because:
* His charisma.
* His rhetoric speech.
* He is the first black president (or whatever the illussion that gives)
* He is a democrat (you know the game: all this Gandhiesques-Carterish figures that will supposedly solve hunger and poverty but achieve nothing except talk like parrots).
* He talks like a seasoned expert on peaceful proposals over every international issue he was completely ignorant 6 months before.
* He plays the international diplomacy game behaving like a politically correct president, although his is an amateur in world affairs.
* People listen what he may have to say only for his credentials as the holder of the most powerful job in the world.
* He is after all.... well… Barack Obama: white mom, black dad, Indonesian sis, Kenyan cous, brit aunt, etc, etc... (for some weak and twisted minds this means a multicultural proposal for world peace, eradication of poverty, fresh ideas and the concept that all the bad things on Earth are going to be solved by this individual).
"I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize...,"
http://www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/government/obama_government/news.php?q=1255114667
I expect there are a whole lot of dead folks in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia who might have a little trouble with the "peace" part of the award.
There have been nice words, no accomplishments.
What award will they give him when he really DOES accomplish something?
Finally, I suppose he deserves it just about as much as Al Gore.
Just my humble opinion.
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M$
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M$http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooqkvd8JPfU
I don't understand people who get all upset when somebody they don't like wins an award like this, it happened with Carter, it happened with Gore and now with Obama.
People like Reagan, Bush and Cheney and so on don't win these awards because they start wars rather then work towards putting an end to them.
Between this and the failed Olympic bid I am getting quite sick with the Media reporting on how people are criticizing the President. We seem to have 2 types of reporting right now A) Those who criticize the President and B) Those who report on those criticizing the President.
Don't get me wrong, I think all leaders should be criticized, but this is getting out of hand.
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M$
This is crazy. You get an award because you 'didn't start a war?' If that is all the requirement for a Nobel, then my cat deserves a prize - she hasn't started a war either. Bill Clinton just secured the release of two American citizens for Korea. He is more deserving of the award than Obama is. I haven't read any comment that said Mr. Obama might not be deserving of the award later on. The general consensus here seems to be that he hasn't done anything YET! My 16 year old says she WILL be the one to find a cure for cancer. We have waged a war against the disease and we want to raise awareness. Should she be given an award for the research she plans to do? I can't take this discussion anymore. I'm going to get cracking on my dissertation. This discussion has just turned crazy.
Jeff, even though I do not have any political commonality with Gore or Carter, I never doubted the strength of the rationale used in extending them the prize. I normally shun being so vocal about something so political, but this just seems so incredulous to me. As I have stated in my many comments on this subject, I have yet to see any actual accomplishment be presented to the world from Obama that would justify such a distinction at this time.
As far as media criticism, come on, think back a few months; you cannot possibly tell me that Bush was the idol of the media.
elcookie, he may not have been the Idol of the Media but he was not repeatedly attacked from the beginning, he was allowed to take his vacations and if you look at where he was in Oct of 2001 I think at the same point in his presidency he was treated much better. and he did things to antagonize and yet still the democrats worked with him when they could, can you say the same of the Republicans? could you imagine what Fox Would say if they moved a aircraft carrier off the coast for a photo op and then said the troops wanted to honor him and it turned out that the white house staged it? could you Imagine the 9 billion that went missing in Iraq getting the same amount of airtime as ACORN? or how about the GOP sens that support rape, I wonder if Hannity or Oreilly is harping on that every night. I was listening to Beck earlier and did not hear about it at all, and Thom Hartman was talking about private equity firms.
Please enlighten me as to what President Obama did prior to or for that matter since that justifies his even being nominated?
The awarding of this prize only demenishes the value of the Nobel Prize and the fact that President Obama accepted it demenishes it even farther.
This award was not designed, at least in essense to be awarded for what one MIGHT do, it was designed to be awarded for what one HAS done.
Barrack Obama may one day actually earn such a prize and know what he won it for. This one sure wasn't earned. I sure failed to see the humilty when he accepted it with the words "I am deeply humbled".
This has nothing to do with conservative or liberal,it has everything to do with right and wrong.
The awarding of this Peace prize is wrong no matter how its spun.
personal opinion
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M$
Please, instead of criticizing the spelling of others, I besiege ye, just give us one Obama accomplishment, pretty please. Speaking for myself I promise I will listen.
As I stated in another comment, even though I am not a proponent of either Carter or Gore, I can understand the rationale used to extend them the prize.
Please, just give us one solid accomplishment from Obama that is useful in helping one understand why he deserves this Nobel prize.
Clarification of petition: Please reply with an accomplishment, not an intention nor his potential.
The phact thet yuu inkorrectly spel "diminish" twise seams to "demenish" yor argumint, in my opinion.
The Nobel Prize for Spelling is still up for nomination.
As for enlightening you on his accomplishments. You could not see the value of any of them because you refuse to. Which is okay.
I suggest you write them.
comments@nobelprize.org
One more thing @shadow bear, if the Lord created the heavens and the earth in 6 days who are we mere mortals to question the accomplishments of Obama in eleven days in office.
How long did it take him to select his dog again?
not here to enlighten, although the nominations were turned in by Feb 1 they do not live in a vacuum and mostly took in information up to the time they decided.
My dear @shadowbear, have you not heard, it is now a world where all that matters is one's intention. It no longer matter what one actually accomplishes. Duh, that is so twentieth century.
We shall live out our lives in eternal bliss as we fill our hearts with good intent, even as we get devoured by the burdens of fiscal irresponsibility, shun personal responsibility and succumb to the realized threats of treacherous world monsters.
But hey, we will all be happy with our intentions. Dog gone it, at least we tried.
I love you for your comment! You are so right! ShadowBear -- thank you for such a precise and utterly intelligent response.
"Dead wrong" I may add.
@tranhawk
Thanks for the spellcheck.
Your comment sure clears the whole question up as it adds so much vital information as to President Obama's accomlishments that justify this award.
Your ad hominem comment is noted for what it is.
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M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
From every blog I've read today, from all the coverage I have heard and seen today, I have yet to hear any sound and rational presentation of one single ACCOMPLISHMENT that Obama has had that merits this award.
I have heard more than enough to last me a lifetime about his intentions and potential. Fine, he is a well intentioned man with great potential; but, where is the accomplishment?
I am hardly a Carter or Gore supporter, but when they won their Nobel Peace Prizes I could at least see the rationale used to extend them the honor. I could see a trail of effort on their part to earn it. As much I disagreed with the majority of their points of view, I did not feel the need to question the validity of their claim to their prize; but Obama? You are absolutely right @ribbions24, I say the same thing, WTF?
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M$
Your response has perhaps been the most concise and apolitical one I've seen so far. Thank you.
I have been questioning the fact that he is the recipient of the prize, not because I may be opposed to him politically; but rather for the fact that I cannot find any accomplishment in his new and short track record that could possibly be used to justify it.
As I am certain we have all seen, this base question is easy to get lost, as the answers (mine included at times) navigate towards political polarization.
That is why your simple, yet direct response to what is the basis of the original question posted here was most refreshing.
Thank you.... it's really NOT about politics, at least, not for me. But something tells me the committee that voted for him didn't agree that it wasn't about politics, and that, somehow, devalues the prize.
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M$
Yeah....I agree with you on this, completely. Just an FYI for those who don't know, President Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
The one thing I will point out here is that you call him Mr. Obabma throughout, which sort of taints your position here. Agree with the man or not, politics or not, his title IS President Obama.
I wish you the best in the coming year and the rest of your term.
Hopefully, this prize will win over your critics.
I am sure the connections you have made and attention you receive from
this honor will bring more influence and success to the difficult challenges you have ahead.
Thank you for your inspiring work towards Peace.
PS. Does the prize committee require proof of birth?
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M$
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M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Albert Nobel invented an advanced gun powder right before WW1. When he saw the destruction he had helped cause he became guilty and set up the Nobel Peace Prize foundation.
He also made a lot of money from the sale of his gunpowder and I'm sure he didn't feel bad about taking that to the bank.
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M$
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M$Sincerely @RoseAugustine on Twitter.
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M$
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1) It's late, I've written quite a bit today and done a ton of homework so my brain is addled but more importantly...
2) as friendly as I am, I prefer not to say any keywords that would send the S.W.A.T. team, Homeland Security or the Secret Service running (flying) to my house to interrupt dinner or what have you in this great nation of "Freedom" (seriously couuld we use that term much more loosely?)
Actually, the media has so glorified this man that I'm waiting for them to create a church for him or something.
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M$
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M$
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M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Making hope for a future.
(To achieve, you persist).
Closing the guantanamo bay.
The future ending of America in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The very day he was awarded the prize he was reviewing a 40,000 troop surge in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay's closure has been postponed twice due to practicality issues. I ask again, what has he done?
Could you please name me one difference that Obama has made in the world up to this moment, yet alone during his first eleven days in office, the time at which he was nominated as @shadowbear brought up earlier.
...and that difference will be.....?
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M$
Thanks for the link Jeff!
Just when I think my opinion of Rush Limbaugh could not get any lower. . . he always proves me wrong.
Seems as of right now the only people upset with the award are the Taliban, Iran and American Conservatives.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09/obama-nobel-prize-reactio_n_315690.html