Barak Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
Hm.
Regular readers will know my politics, and know that I am a staunch supporter of the man — but even I think that this Nobel Prize is unmerited.
Obama simply has not done anything, by his own actions, that deserve the award.
Do I think he will, eventually? Absolutely. But that’s not the point. A Nobel Prize is a joke at this point in his Presidency.
However, it serves as a clear demonstration of just how far America’s image fell in the rest of the world during Bush’s term — and, even if the Conservatives refuse to come to terms with that, such a fall in standing was bad for America.
This award is based almost entirely on how Obama’s election changed the world’s opinion of the U.S.— which certainly helps us diplomatically, although its nowhere near worthy of a Nobel Prize.
Obama is supposed to be giving a speech about this later this morning: My sincere hope is that he’ll say that he’s humbled and honored, but that he’s turning it down. I certainly think he’s savvy enough to do that — it would be a brilliant political move on his part. But he’s managed to be surprisingly tone-deaf at times in the past, and may do so again.
Really, though — the whole foofaraw is not worth the conniption fit that the Right will inevitably have over this today (I can only imagine what we’re going to hear)…. The Peace Prize has given out some real doozies in its history (Kissinger, anyone?)