Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

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A call to action

Friday, October 9, 2009 6:49 PM

From: "President Barack Obama" <info@barackobama.com>

To: James48843


Obama for America [FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]

james48843--

This morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6 a.m., we received word that I'd been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.

To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize -- men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.

But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.

That is why I've said that I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations and all peoples to confront the common challenges of the 21st century. These challenges won't all be met during my presidency, or even my lifetime. But I know these challenges can be met so long as it's recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone.

This award -- and the call to action that comes with it -- does not belong simply to me or my administration; it belongs to all people around the world who have fought for justice and for peace. And most of all, it belongs to you, the men and women of America, who have dared to hope and have worked so hard to make our world a little better.

So today we humbly recommit to the important work that we've begun together. I'm grateful that you've stood with me thus far, and I'm honored to continue our vital work in the years to come.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama[/FONT]
 
AM I understanding this right - that the nominations for the Nobel closed two weeks after Sen Obama was sworn in and became President Obama?
So what had he accomplished in those two weeks that was so profound? The science awards were given to three people who had already accomplished a great feat with tracking bacteria; they had finished that stage of their work. And aren't the literature guys given theirs for what they've already published? Because of these thoughts I look askance at this award, and even more so, then, that he didn't already know it was in the works as a `done deal.' Otherwise, why would such (sometimes) honored prizes be given out on promises to produce, campaign promises? I'm sorry - this makes absolutely no sense to me, especially when I read the accolades of why he deserved it. - no relaitonship as far as I can interpret....
but then, my TSPtalk teachers finally had to give up on me :embarrest: getting any of that either! They let me stay on board, tho! :D
 
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6868905.ece

Gasps echoed through the Nobel Hall in Oslo yesterday as Barack Obama was unveiled as the winner of the 2009 Peace Prize, sparking a global outpouring of incredulity and praise in unequal measure.

Mr Obama was sound asleep in the White House when the Norwegian Nobel Committee made the shock announcement. It said that he was being honoured for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples”.

In a clear swipe at his predecessor, George W. Bush, the committee praised the “change in the international climate” that the President had brought, along with his cherished goal of ridding the world 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,” it added.

International reaction ranged from delight to disbelief. The former winners Kofi Annan and Desmond Tutu voiced praise, the latter lauding the Nobel Committee’s “surprising but imaginative choice”.

But Lech Walesa, the dissident turned Polish President, who won the Peace Prize in 1983, spoke for many, declaring: “So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far.”

Mr Obama’s domestic critics leapt on the award as evidence of foreigners fawning over an untested “celebrity” leader. Rush Limbaugh, the US right-wing commentator, said: “This fully exposes the illusion that is Barack Obama."

Speaking later, Mr Obama said that he was “surprised and deeply humbled” by the unexpected decision and announced that he would donate the £880,000 prize, due to be awarded in December, to charity.

“Let me be clear. I do not view it as recognition of my own accomplishments but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations," he said.

The Nobel Peace Prize is a notoriously difficult award to predict, but yesterday's decision was clearly a political choice, with three of the past six peace awards going to Bush adversaries.

In 2002 the prize went to Jimmy Carter as an explicit rejection of the Bush presidency in the build-up to the Iraq war. In 2005 Mohamed ElBaradei, the UN atomic agency chief who had clashed with Washington over the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, was honoured. In 2007 Al Gore received the prize for his warnings on climate change, denounced by President Bush as a liberal myth.

The award is also an example of what Nobel scholars call the growing aspirational trend of Nobel committees over the past three decades, by which awards are given not for what has been achieved but in support of the cause being fought for.

Thorbjørn Jagland, the committee chairman, made clear that this year’s prize fell in that category. “If you look at the history of the Peace Prize, we have on many occasions given it to try to enhance what many personalities were trying to do,” he said. “It could be too late to respond three years from now.”

But Bobby Muller, who won the Nobel Prize as co-founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, told The Times: "I don't have the highest regard for the thinking or process of the Nobel committee. Maybe Norway should give it to Sweden so they can more properly handle the Peace Prize along with all the other Nobel prizes."
 
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegians at the express wishes of the founder, Alfred Nobel.

He gave it to the Norwegians, possibly because he saw them as being without an international agenda, as honest brokers.

They must think he's doing a good job. In my experience, the Norwegians have always tried to do the right thing. They seem to always be punished for it, but that's okay.
 
Gandhi was nominated for 3 Nobel Peace prizes…how many did he win… ZERO and bHo can’t even carry Gandhi’s shoes when it comes to his contribution to mankind and peace. But then Gandhi is not some fat left wing nut or socialist.

Committee excerpt – The committee has increasingly given the peace prize to honor the awardees' causes, even when their aspirations are not matched by concrete accomplishments.

Oh it’s all in the name in symbolism, well now ain’t that right up a libs alley…all talk but no walk. :laugh: What a joke award.

CB
 
CountryBoy said:
Gandhi was nominated for 3 Nobel Peace prizes…how many did he win… ZERO and bHo can’t even carry Gandhi’s shoes when it comes to his contribution to mankind and peace. But then Gandhi is not some fat left wing nut or socialist.

Committee excerpt – The committee has increasingly given the peace prize to honor the awardees' causes, even when their aspirations are not matched by concrete accomplishments.

Oh it’s all in the name in symbolism, well now ain’t that right up a libs alley…all talk but no walk. :laugh: What a joke award.

CB
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That's right, I can walk around talking about helping children for years. It's all talk until you open your home and heart. Nobel Peace Prize, aka bull **** award.

Peace on earth good will toward man has been around much longer that BHO. Walking around on the world stage at the expense of the taxpayer talking don't make it so.

Wake up, and goooood morning.:D
 
Winning 365 electoral votes and 53% of the popular vote nationwide: $740.6 million.

Bailing out the financial mess in the automobile industy that your freemarketing NAFTA predecessor left you, after destroying 400,000 American manufacturing jobs? $39.1 billion.

Funding the troubled asset relief (TARP) program that the prior President and Congress passed one month before the election, leaving you no choice but to pay out their shakedown theft from the U.S. Treasury? $700 billion.

Watching the right wingnuts go ballistic when you win the Nobel Peace Prize just nine months into office?

Priceless.
 
That's funny! Isn't it great when all of the dems rallied around the president after 9/11? Isn't it truly priceless when all of the republicans rallied around the president now? I mean, after all, they handed him (and us) all of the problems after 8 years. Ron Paul makes the observation that the administration did too much after 9/11. Sorry Ron, but I think you're 8 years a little too late.



James48843 said:
Winning 365 electoral votes and 53% of the popular vote nationwide: $740.6 million.

Bailing out the financial mess in the automobile industy that your freemarketing NAFTA predecessor left you, after destroying 400,000 American manufacturing jobs? $39.1 billion.

Funding the troubled asset relief (TARP) program that the prior President and Congress passed one month before the election, leaving you no choice but to pay out their shakedown theft from the U.S. Treasury? $700 billion.

Watching the right wingnuts go ballistic when you win the Nobel Peace Prize just nine months into office?

Priceless.
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It's like a kid gets admitted to Harvard as a freshman, then after 2 weeks of classes they give him and B.S. and M.S. degrees.
 
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If only we and the mass media had listened to the message sent by the Nobel Prize Committee when they awarded the Peace Prize to Jimmy Carter in 2002, and to Mohamed ElBaradei in 2005. America would still be the most respected nation in the world,thousands of people would not have lost their lives, and there would have been no loss of foreign markets, collapse of the economy, soaring unemployment, and the loss of home and retirement assets of millions of people.

I think the Nobel Committee has been trying to send us an important message for some time now. I know, maybe we should listen.
 
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