Obama awarded 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

[David]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

He is the fourth U.S. president to win the prestigious prize and the third sitting president to do so.

This year's Peace Prize nominees included 172 people -- among them three Chinese dissidents, an Afghan activist and a controversial Colombian lawmaker -- and 33 organizations, the highest number of nominations ever.

The Nobel recipient receives a prize of about $1.4 million.

Surely one of those dissidents would have been more deserving than the political leader of the United States?

I don't know what they give the Nobel Peace Prize for, but why give a $1.4 million prize to a sitting president? Isn't that person, by definition, feted enough as it is?

It all sounds like Employee of the Month stuff. We've all worked for companies that rewarded the executive team more than the rank & file, & we've all rolled our eyes at it. A president who is attempting to negotiate treaties -- peace, trade, etc. -- with other countries is, after all, just a politician doing what he is already being paid to do.

Give the Peace Prize to people who are genuinely putting their careers & even their lives on the line, I say -- not to bureaucrats who concentrate on nothing so much as their own re-election.