Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

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Iz it coz he iz black?

 

I'm sure Glenn Beck or Rush would think so....

 

The real reason Chicago got booted is the corrupt-to-the-core International Olympics Committee is mad at the United States government for exposing IOC bribery demands attached to the Salt Lake City Games. I don't know when the US will get to host the Olympics again, but chances are we're done for a while.

Heck, if any city was able to bribe it's way to winning the Olympics, it's Chicago!

 

No Aldeth, Governor Blagoa-creep screwed that up, there's to much scrutiny now. It's a real shame when an Illinois politican can't reach into his check book and get things "Done".

 

An e-mail going around work was funny:

Breaking News: Barack Obama Named Finalist For Heisman Trophy

It was announced today that President Barack Obama has been named a finalist for the 2009 Heisman Memorial Trophy Award as presented by the Downtown Athletic Club.

[I deleted various insulting comments of poor taste which filled in here. They were both inappropriate and not very funny -- had they been humorous I would have included them though .]

He is the only finalist named so far and the first non-college football player to ever receive this honor.

 

Ok, seriously, can't people give him a break? He's trying to pass a healthcare reform, for Pete's sake, and he can't do that if he's constantly getting distracted. Or is that the point ?

 

The Shaman - You have to consider that the critics have no positive record to speak of on "peace" and "human rights" as an issue for themselves. Thusly, is their critque of the committee's choice based on Obama's lack of record, or on his positive record in this regard? Let them answer for themselves -- and let the fun begin while watching them weasel out of their own contradictions and hypocrisy on the issues of peace and human rights.

 

Does that mean we should ignore the current laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize who have expressed confusion at the selection ("He hasn't had the time to do anything yet ... " -- Lech Walesa)? Or perhaps we should also ignore the critics of Obama who actually congratulated him publically ("I join my fellow Americans in expressing pride in our president on this occasion." -- Sen. John McCain).

The Shaman: the President is never given a break. It's the nature of the job. You cannot lead without offending some and stepping on the toes of others. The President is always going to be late night monolog fodder. If he allows himself to be distracted by such comments (whether humorous or villainous), he should not be in the position. In general, I think Obama lets this kind of stuff go by without giving it a moments thought.

 

You know exactly the critics I'm speaking of, T2.

Yes, that is exactly right.

 

The people I meant giving him a break are all those award committees, actually. I can just picture them as little kids, running around shouting "Daddy, daddy, look what I did" while daddy is bent like a pretzel trying to fix the gosh-darned plumbing that's been leaking for the latter part of three years.

 

The committee itself defended it's choice quite well. They are the only ones, IMHO, who have shown the least bit of courage in all this media yammering:

He's not "afraid" of all the bullies and know-nothings in the American media? Wow, where is he coming from?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33291989/ns/politics-white_house/

 

Yeah, Chandos, I thought they did a good job of explaning themselves -- I also believe there are more deserving people out there, but obviously that is only my opinion.

 

That could be, although you did not mention who they are. I believe, judging by their comments, that Obama has the most ability to affect the change, and that he has already started the process. I will agree that it is still a work in progress, but the blueprint is taking shape. Time will tell if it pans out, or if he fails, as some (those talking heads in the media) are hoping he does.

 

Tsvangirai
Hu Lai
Piedad Cordoba
Sima Samar
Ghazi Bin Muhammad Bin Talal

to just name a few.

 

Raise your hand (everyone besides T2) if you actually knew who all (or even most of) those people are. My hand is not waving.

 

I actually had to go back through old articles I read to get the correct spellings. One I missed is the woman in Myanmar under house imprisonment (Suu Key?).

Tsvangirai -- took over from Mugabe as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe
Hu Jai -- sorry a typo on the first post, Chinese dissident and politcal activists currently in prison. His "crimes" are activism in the democracy and environmental movements in China and his AIDS awareness campaign.
Piedad Cordoba -- a senator from Columbia who has been negotiating prisoner exchange between FARC and the government. Her efforts to diffuse the situation between FARC and Columbia (and Venezuela) are quite impressive.
Sima Samar -- well, just look her up she is one of the few who can be compared to Mother Teresa.
Ghazi Bin Muhammad Bin Talal -- very active in promoting education to improve understanding between different cultures.

I was hoping for Sima Samar.

 

Since the committee was quite specific for its reasons, I have to say it is a matter of subjective opinion. While the above list of T2's is reasonable, the committee is basing it on, what it believes, are also pressing issues.

 

Chandos, how has Obama 'contributed to the development of peace in the previous year'? Also of interest, how do they define 'previous year'? Is that all of 2008 (2009 being current year), or the previous 365 days (October 2008 to October 2009). It seems to be that the Committee's response was just 'we decided it and that's how it is'.

Also, I would point out that even democrats and Obama supporters on these boards have said they disagree with the Committee's decision, so obviously there's plenty of dissent outside of 'Obama's political rivals'.

 

True Chandos and while the committee did a good job of explaining its decision there will always be the "you're no George Bush" aspect of the award. Which is truly a shame. It's great he got the award, but it would have been more meaningful after a couple of years in office.

 

Agreed, T2. But that was an informative list.

Far more than any of his critics have...

But more seriously, as president, he is continuing the work he started as a US Senator. It will be interesting to see if it works out for him, particually on nukes.

So, I take it that you agree with his decision not to deploy missiles in Eastern Europe? Note: many of the same critics who are attacking him for attempting to negotiate with Russia and scrap the deployment of nukes are, at the same time, complaining that he has not done enough for peace. How funny is that?