Obama awarded 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

[gldstwmn]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe...ize/index.html

CNN) -- President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, a stunning decision that comes just eight months into his presidency.

Less than nine months into his presidency, Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it honored Obama for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

The president had not been mentioned as among front-runners for the prize, and the roomful of reporters gasped when Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the Nobel committee, uttered Obama's name.

The president, who was awakened to be told he had won, said he was humbled to be selected, according to an administration official.

The Nobel committee recognized Obama's efforts to solve complex global problems including working toward a world free of nuclear weapons.

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said.

Jagland said the decision was "unanimous" and came with ease.

He rejected the notion that Obama had been recognized prematurely for his efforts and said the committee wanted to promote the president just it had Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 in his efforts to open up the Soviet Union.

"His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population," it said.

Obama's recognition comes less than a year after he became the first African-American to win the White House. He is the fourth U.S. president to win the prestigious prize and the third sitting president to do so.

Jagland said he hoped the prize would help Obama resolve the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Listen to Jagland explain why Obama was this year's choice »

Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, last year's laureate, said it was clear the Nobel committee wanted to encourage Obama on the issues he has been discussing on the world stage.

"I see this as an important encouragement," Ahtisaari said.

The committee wanted to be "far more daring" than in recent times and make an impact on global politics, said Kristian Berg Harpviken, director of the International Peace Research Institute.

And Wangari Muta Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist who won the 2004 Peace Prize, said the win for Obama, whose father was Kenyan, would help Africa move forward.

"I think it is extraordinary," she said. "It will be even greater inspiration for the world. He has shown how we can probably come together, work together in a cooperative way."

The award comes at a crucial time for Obama, who has initiated peace missions to key parts of the globe.

Obama's envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, has returned to the region to advocate for peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Mitchell met Thursday with Israeli President Shimon Peres. He plans to meet Friday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before talking with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton starts a six-day trip to Europe and Russia on Friday. On the trip, the secretary will discuss the next steps on Iran and North Korea, and international efforts to have the two countries end their nuclear programs.

The centerpiece of the trip will be her visit to Moscow, where she will work toward an agreement to take the place of the Start II arms control pact, which expires December 5. She also will address the new bilateral presidential commission that is working on a broad range of issues, from arms control to health.

Mohamed ElBaradei, who won the 2005 peace prize for his efforts to prevent nuclear energy being used for military means, said Obama deserved to win for his efforts to bring Iran to the table for direct nuclear talks with the United States.

"I could not think of anybody who is more deserving," said ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

As the news of Obama's win broke online, postings on social network sites Twitter and Facebook expressed surprise. Many started with the word: Wow.

The last sitting U.S. president to win the peace prize was Woodrow Wilson in 1919. The other was Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. Jimmy Carter had been out of office for more than two decades when he won in 2002.

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 deadline for nominations must be postmarked by February 1 each year. Obama was inaugurated on January 20.

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

[FMlex]

Is this a joke?

[vermicious knid]

Wow. This is pretty much complete bull****. He wants to continue the goal-less and impossible war in Afghanistan and is right now deciding whether to escalate it. He will be breaking his promise to be out of Iraq within 16 months of being in office. He is actively covering up George W. Bush's war crimes. Just the other week he was exagerrating the threat from Iran, playing into the substantial bomb-bomb-bomb-Iran contingent.

[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.

[Steviefan49]

Really?? I'm not meaning to laugh.. but is this for real?

[GoS]

@ The covering up the Bush administration stuff. If Obama came out and released all of this info and especially if he tried to try anybody, the nation would become far more polarized than it already is. The far-far-right would become more and more enraged, and (possibly rightly) accuse him of just pleasing the far-lefties. There are other ways to show that you are tough on these war crimes.

I'm not gonna argue that he deserved it, because I don't think anyone will change their mind.

[Musicman408]

Does anyone know who any of the other nominees were?

[LikeAWillow]

Originally Posted by David

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

But certainly a political leader who had been in office for only twelve days when the nominations were due is so much more deserving.

[David]

Originally Posted by Musicman408

Does anyone know who any of the other nominees were?

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblog...were_passe.asp

What this Peace Prize committee does is both confusing & confused. I'm all for recognizing dissidents who fight against tyranically statist regimes in the name of liberty. But what does that have to do with peace per se? Call the award the Nobel Liberty (or Freedom) Prize.

(I don't consider "liberty" & "freedom" precisely synonymous.)

[GoS]

Originally Posted by LikeAWillow

But certainly a political leader who had been in office for only twelve days when the nominations were due is so much more deserving.

Nomination doesn't guarantee winning. It was probably in anticipation of something he'd do. If they didn't feel he was deserving, Obama wouldn't have won the award. Obviously they did.

[Ghost_Tracker]

Originally Posted by GoS

@ The covering up the Bush administration stuff. If Obama came out and released all of this info and especially if he tried to try anybody, the nation would become far more polarized than it already is. The far-far-right would become more and more enraged, and (possibly rightly) accuse him of just pleasing the far-lefties. There are other ways to show that you are tough on these war crimes.

I'm not gonna argue that he deserved it, because I don't think anyone will change their mind.

I totally agree. Obama's a uniter, not a divider - as the Nobel Committee emphasized today.

I'm not sure I agree with the awarding of this prize to him at this point in time, though. This will give Obama a shot in the arm politically, and I think that's a VERY good thing. But this award is supposedly "non-political." The Nobel Committee, I feel, showed very well today that (as everyone knows, really) it's just simply not true; it is a political award, with political motivations and goals behind it. I'm pretty much a Liberal - kinda-sorta - and that means I can "see another Liberal coming up Fifth Avenue." Obviously the people that made this decision are Liberals. And the thing is, these points-of-view are OPINIONS, NOT facts. Suggesting otherwise is very dangerous, i.m.o., and I feel that in a way the Committee stepped over a line today. (And maybe even got a little "out of place," frankly.)

Having said that though, as someone who's basically an Obama supporter, there's part of me that's like, "What!? WHOA, WAY to GO, DUDE! "

[vermicious knid]

If the anticipation of good things happening were enough to award a Nobel Peace Prize, then Richard Nixon would have deserved one in 1968 for promising to bring the Vietnam war to a speedy conclusion.

Then 20,000 more Americans died and it didn't end until 1975. You can see where waiting until actual accomplishments are achieved is the smarter method.