By WALTER GIBBS and ALAN COWELL
Published: October 9, 2009
OSLO — In a stunning surprise, the Nobel Committee announced Friday that it had awarded its annual peace prize to President Obama “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
“He has created a new international climate,” the committee said in its announcement. President Obama’s name had not figured in speculation about the likely winner until minutes before the prize was announced here.
Likely candidates had been seen here as including human rights activists in China and Afghanistan and political figures in Africa.
The committee said it wanted to enhance Mr. Obama’s diplomatic efforts. “We are awarding Obama for what he has done,” the committee said. “Many other people and leaders and nations have to respond in a positive way” to President Obama’s diplomacy.
The announcement noted the special importance the committee attached to President Obama’s vision of a world without nuclear weapons. “Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play,” the committee said.
Walter Gibbs reported from Oslo, and Alan Cowell from London.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/world/10nobel.html
Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
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While it may - in my opinon - be still early to award him a Nobel prize so early in his presidency (after all, nothing tangible has been accomplished), I still offer congratulations to President Obama for this award.
1Please tell me this is a joke.
:plead:
I have no problem awarding people this honor, after they've ACTUALLY accomplished something. My opinion of this award continues to drop.
2@ UnDave : clearly Europe is having a love affair with Obama...
3Can't wait til the morning news shows to watch the Republican heads explode. Congrats to President Obama!
4I'd like to know what they based this on, since the nomination deadline was the end of February.
5@ Brandy : exactly what I thought ! I think the Nobel prize committee wants to see Glenn Beck cry some more...
More seriously, if I could offer a personal explanation to this, I would say it has more to do with the expression of the relief felt by the rest of the world that the Bush reign finally ended than a recognition of a true and tangible fact.
6Thats BS. 11 days? his first 11 days in office make him a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize? gimme a break. This just proves that its now jumped the shark and become obsolete.
They couldnt give him an Emmy or a MTV Video award or an academy award so they were all "hey what about the NPP?" and "dude thats brillant, lets!"
7"more to do with the expression of the relief felt by the rest of the world that the Bush reign finally ended"
So this prize is all about what then? winning the election. Okay I will give you that because its not about peace. Obama needs to then share his 1.4 million with the people who voted him in.
8Wow the Nobel organization just lost a LOT of credibility. I agree with others, when he does something worthy of that prize then give it! But otherwise? It just looks like butt kissing or a school girl crush.
I feel like it tarnishes the other winners prizes too... is Obama really in the same camp as Bono and Mother Teresa? I think not.
9This is my favorite quote from Jagland (the comittee chairman) after saying in the last few years this world has "become a dangerous place": ""And anybody who can contribute to getting the world out of this situation deserves a Nobel Peace Prize."
REALLY?!?!?! Just ANYBODY?!!? Any Tom, Dick, or Harry??? Boy I hope they make these prizes en masse because there are MILLIONS of volunteers who will be getting one.... shoot I should be getting one if that's all it takes!
I really just feel bad for previous winners now... they may as well just throw the award away. It seems to be mean nothing.
10My first thought when I heard this was 'WTF' and my second was that Obama really can't catch a break. I'm not happy with the guy but the fact that he was awarded this is hardly his fault. I doubt very seriously that he and his adminstration are happy about this. I think this is going to hurt him. It comes at a really bad time and of course he hasn't earned it. This is going to take center stage when we should all be talking healthcare and Afghanistan.
11we all do realize this is based on only 11 days of his presidency right?
12Interesting thoughts Piper... you're probably right. If this award came a few years down the line it would be easy to say to the naysayers "oh they're just haters" or whatever. But now? I mean, even if you like the guy, you have to realize to some extent that he didn't earn this.
13I'm stunned -
I think it is a brilliant move by the Nobel Committee to make a very clear statement applauding and encouraging changes in behavior that could benefit the world.
It makes surprising sense: the Nobel Committee has seized a moment and challenged the U.S. to build on it.
14I cannot pick up the barf i just spewed reading the above statement fast enough.
15Steph - I thought the Nobel prize was for what you've accomplished, not a challenge to do something.
16That's okay CG - someday, you'll understand what the Nobel Committee did today and realize what a huge game-changing effort they've made.
And no matter how people complain and spew and piss and moan, it won't matter.
Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize.
That whole 'the rest of the world hates us and doesn't respect him' line of b-s just got blown to he!!.
17No Dave, if you check the history of the prize it's as much about building potential as it is about honoring action.
18"Macedonian humanitarian and artist Zivko Popovski-Cvetin was nominated by the Macedonian government, Austrian children's charity SOS-Kinderdorf International was put forward by the Austrian government, American Greg Mortenson was nominated by six members of the U.S. Congress for his Asian school building charity, Vietnamese religious leader Thich Quang Do was put forward when a campaign recruited lawmakers to nominate him, and American musician Pete Seeger also was nominated after a campaign"
and again, why did OBAMA win it? over those people?
I am never more ashamed to be from norwegian stock than now.
19Cg, please don't say other people's comments make you barf. Steph, please don't imply that others aren't smart enough to understand something.
20"That's okay CG - someday, you'll understand what the Nobel Committee did today and realize what a huge game-changing effort they've made"
watch out steph your condescension is showing.
21Obama won it for the potential he represents for the world.
In a huge way, the Nobel Committee has put his feet to the fire and said be the change you said you'd be - that's what we think the world wants and needs.
22sorry TS. I apologize. (scooping up my barf statement)
23This does seem like quite a shock. Kind of feel like the comittee sandbagged Obama a little here in order to give Bush a slap in the face.
Oh to be a fly on the wall in the White House this morning!
24since when do we award prizes based on potential?
i thought prizes were for actual accomplishments.
thanks for posting the other nominees CG, i feel really bad for them
25btw, i saw on the news that obama will be speaking on this sometime this morning so stay tuned!
26"According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."
I dont see Obama fitting that criteria for his 11 days. thats the honest truth.
27i also disagree that the nobel comittee speaks for the whole world. i bet there are plenty of world leaders who are egotistical enough to be pissed and plenty of average people around the globe who realize awards are for things you've done, not what you say you'll do.
28and no where does it say it should be awarded for "potential"
29cg- keyword: "done" not "has said they will do"
30good for him! he has changed the way the US is viewed overseas, and obviously many people think that is worthy of a prize.
i do think that there were some other qualified candidates, but the nobel committee has made some odd choices in the last couple years. i'd like to read more about why he was selected, but i'll wait til people get over it.
31Haha. This is reeeally disgusting and I don't mean this meanly at alll, but that makes me think about how dogs puke and then immediately eat it. It's making me giggle. It's early.
32And, how did ya'll feel when Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize again?
33how do we know that he's changed the way the US is viewed overseas? what do we have as evidence to support that?
because i don't see it. i don't see countries rushing to our aid in afghanistan. i don't see anyone joining our side or sticking up for us now where they haven't before.
34brandy this isn't about partisanship. this about reality versus theory.
in theory, obama should win a prize because theoretically he could make a huge change. in reality, he hasn't done had enough time and he hasn't done it yet.
there's nothing partisan about that.
35The way the U.S. is viewed overseas changed by just Obama being elected, proving that Americans are not as stupid as we proved ourselves to be in the past 8 years...
36hahah! done had enough time! sorry, my coffee is brewing.... :cup:
37brandy - that is your opinion but there's nothing to back that up. there's no contrete example you can point to to say that everyone thought we were stupid and now they don't.
38If you check the list of past winners, sometimes the prize is given less for what the winner has accomplished and more for what they've set out to accomplish.
39not to mention the offensiveness of calling millions of people you don't know stupid, but thats besides the point.
40I heard this in passing this morning and kind of ignored it. I think the Nobel Peace Prize had become a joke in recent years. (And I was saying that long before I heard Obama won.) To me, it's always given to someone politically liberal, so liberals hold it as a high honor. All of the conservatives/moderates I know stopped caring about it and thinking it actually means something long ago.
41steph - i will look that up but before i do, do you know of an example off the top of your head to save me the google?
42Brandy explain to me how in 11 DAYS he did this? you cannot. speeches dont equal change....they dont.
43Opinions can't be proven, that's what keeps them from being facts.
44has should be has
Apparently it's too early for me, too, even thought it's 9:40 here.
45"but the nobel committee has made some odd choices in the last couple years."
Yeah, they gave Al Gore one for his scam.
46nobody wants to get involved in afghanistan cuz it's going nowhere.
i was abroad when obama won, and people were cheering, just saying "obama" to me on the train, etc. i work for an international non-profit and people would call and congratulate. when we talk about policies with our members, they tell us it's about time! the only complaint they have is that they can't understand why healthcare reform is taking so long.
those are just my personal experiences, and for me, it has been much easier to be an american while doing business abroad now than it was for me that ever before. (i've only been doing this job for five years, so i can only speak for those)
47had should be has, I meant.
Maybe I should go home and just call it quits for the day.
48see snarky maybe i see the opposite because i went abroad a few times during the bush years and no one was ever rude to me or ever said anything bad about the US, its choices, or Bush.... geez, i even got the opposite in one country where they were like "we love him!"
so i guess it's all personal experience which is why i hate those sweeping statments like "everyone hates us" or "now everyone loves us" because really it breaks down to individual people.
49http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Mortenson
THAT guy should have won. Nominated by US Congress
Who nominated Obama? Oprah?
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