“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. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.” The Norwegian Nobel Committee
Conor Rogers, Editor-In-Chief
Ideology: Republican | Writing from: GWU
America, Europe loves our President! Why? Because he’s placed the UN at the center of our policy, failed to pass a climate change bill, and has a vision about what we should do with Nuclear Weapons.
I genuinely question what President Barack Obama has done to deserve a Nobel Peace Prize; in the United States, his approval rating has fallen nearly 20-points since becoming President and has been lambasted by everyone from healthcare advocates, gay rights protesters and peace activists on the left, and even Saturday Night Live for doing nothing with his Presidency so far.
This is not to mention that the President is considering sending 60,000 more American troops to a war zone. When George Bush did this in 2006, there was international and domestic uproar – not a Nobel peace prize.
The most irritating part of the justification for his award has to be the final line: “democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.” More democracy and human rights…where? Certainly not Iran where Obama sat by as democracy protestors were killed in the streets. Not Honduras where Obama has backed a President who sought to subvert his constitution so he could stay in office. So, maybe not the democracy part, but, he’s standing up for human rights, right? Actually, just this past Monday he cancelled a meeting with the Dalai Llama in an effort to appease China.
My objection to President Obama receiving the prize has nothing to do with the fact that I didn’t support him in his election – it’s that they are awarding the President for making a number of speeches and establishing but not for actually accomplishing anything.
Has the President changed the attitude on climate change in the White House, yes. But, has he been able to change where our country stands? No.
Has the President stood up for democracy around the world? No.
Has the President actually reduced nuclear weapons instead of saying he wants to? No.
Has the President actually closed Guantanamo Bay? No.
Has the President considered sending more troops to a war? N- Oh wait, Yes.
Has the President ignored a democratic uprising? Yes.
On top of this, I must remind the Nobel Committee that they have just given a peace prize to a man who supports the death penalty, is sending thousands of troops to a war they oppose, and has failed to pass anything in his home country save for an economic stimulus package.
There is no other way to describe this event except as laughable; and for those of you who still have respect for the Nobel Prize (ever since they gave it to Arafat, many of us have lost it) this is nearly sacrilege to the entire idea of the prize. In addition, the nomination process started in February – when Barack Obama had been President for less than a month.
When I was eight years old, I was (similarly to Barack Obama) tied at the ankles to a girl named Nancy. In our field day, we had to run a three-legged race. We tripped, fell to the ground, lost our race and accomplished nothing – but at the end of the day we got a participant ribbon because we showed up, tried, and our parents were proud of us. Congratulations Mr. President, you showed up and even though you haven’t actually accomplished anything, the big guys on the sidelines in Europe are proud of you, too.
C’mon man, they gave one to Yasser Arafat, a known terrorist, and Carter, a President who ran this country into the ground. Obama’s having done nothing probably made him the best qualified.
beat me to it Conor
seriously I just wasted an hour writing on this before I got on here
And his approval ratings have what exactly to do with any of this?
Turn on C-SPAN at any point during a weekday. That’s why our President hasn’t been able to pass as much landmark legislation as you’d like to see. Obama’s predecessor was no different. Until 9/11, his only major piece of legislation was his 2001 tax cut.
Still, our President has managed to pass a piece of legislation that drastically reforms our credit card industry, the Fraud Enforcement Act of 2009 (which actually enforces federal fraud laws that pertain to financial institutions), as well as a comprehensive piece of housing legislation. Sure, he could do a hell of a lot more. But to turn a Saturday Night Live sketch into a major partisan talking point is to propagate an outright lie.
Tyler,
Clearly, Conor was simply stating that the criticism of getting nothing done came from a multitude of places, including even a sketch comedy show. And you are so outraged by this minor mention of SNL. Where was your outrage when the line about seeing Russia “from my house” was actually attributed to Sarah Palin (and still is) when it originated in an SNL sketch.
What would we see if we turned on C-SPAN? An overwhelming Democrat majority in the house telling people that Republicans want Americans to die quickly? Or are you referring to the filibuster-proof majority in the Senate? Obama has no excuse for not having gotten anything done.
The point of this article (made well by Conor, by the way), is that Obama doesn’t deserve the Nobel Peace Prize (at least not after 11 days of being in office, which was when he was nominated). Since you haven’t said anything regarding the prize, I’m assuming you agree with the gist of the article.
The larger point of the article is that Obama has done nothing to deserve.
alec. you know as well as everyone else that while there are 60 “democrats” in the senate, obama does not have a filibuster proof majority. The reason things have not been done is because many conservatives in both parties (but mostly republican) have been saying no with out coming up with legitimate alternative proposals that are actually workable or good for america as a whole. Alot of their proposals are great for the top tier of society but thats about it.
Why does any of this matter?
And for the record, I prefer a government that does nothing to a government that actively harms our country (ex. George W. Bush’s regime)
“And for the record, I prefer a government that does nothing to a government that actively harms our country (ex. George W. Bush’s regime)”
I agree. But your example, unfortunately is false. Obama has continued with Bush’s worst policies (aka, the Bush Doctrine, now the Bush/Obama Doctrine) and spent trillions of unnecessary dollars that will harm our country in perpetuity.
Well Clark, whether you think so or not, 60 Dems = filibuster proof. And Republicans have several alternatives, I guess you just haven’t bothered to look them up.
Issue at hand – Obama doesn’t deserve a Nobel Peace Prize. So thoughts on THAT? Anybody?
Alec: “Obama doesn’t deserve a Nobel Peace Prize. So thoughts on THAT? Anybody?”
Honestly, I don’t care.
Okay, then you don’t need to be commenting on the article.
I don’t care because it doesn’t and shouldn’t matter.
Noah,
If you don’t care why are you interrupting debate and discussion. If you don’t mind, we can get back to the topic at hand.
Tyler:
The comment about his approval ratings was quite obviously made in passing and is in no way a major part of this argument.
It serves only to frame the discussion – the discussion being about how Obama has done relativity little – particularly in regards to international affairs – since taking office. This, indisputably, has hurt his poll numbers…do you see the connection yet?
You said: “”Still, our President has managed to pass a piece of legislation that drastically reforms our credit card industry, the Fraud Enforcement Act of 2009 (which actually enforces federal fraud laws that pertain to financial institutions), as well as a comprehensive piece of housing legislation”"
Does this have ANYTHING to do with a Nobel Peace Prize? No. Are these his only accomplishments? Yes.
See my point now?
I was simply pointing an outright lie you made about the President’s alleged lack of accomplishments. That is all.
Tyler,
Do yourself a favor and go re-read the article.
I didn’t say the President hasn’t accompished anything – simply stated that other people have accused him of doing so.
Don’t accuse me of making an “outright lie”
“and has failed to pass anything in his home country save for an economic stimulus package.”
You lie.
Conor: Everyone knows our President does not deserve the Nobel: even he, as he rushed so quickly toward declaring his acceptance of it. He knew there was a cloud over it. But, sadly, he’s becoming the gold standard of having undeserved honors conferred upon him. A Senate seat, the Democratic Party nomination, and the Presidency come to mind. This is the first affirmative action presidency, conferred on the basis of happy talk “hope and change”, and the Bush backlash on the right. One Eurotrash audience, the Olympic Committee, was unimpressed by his or Chicago’s qualifications.
The Nobel has been cheapened; it may never recover. There were gasps in the room as Obama’s win was announced. What’s that tell you?
Does it strike anyone else as odd that still to this very day the name Obama gets underlined by spellcheck as a misspelling. What does Word know that we don’t?
I have to agree with Noah on this. Why is this so obscenely important?
Old and Decrepit,
Obama’s name isn’t in spell check because it isn’t a common name(however i expect it to be in words next version) and the Olympic committee didn’t pick Chicago because Obama was unimpressive, its because American corporations don’t cooperate well with licencing rights and restrictions put forth by the Olympic committee. Also I find it slightly offensive that you say Obama’s election means he is the “first affirmative action presidency” which is really rich considering his succesor Bush didn;t even win the election in 2000, he had it handed to him by the Supreme court.
Regardless, Obama didn’t deserve the award, but then again neither did Yassar Arafat. To echo Noah, it means almost nothing.
It “means” that affirmative action(giving the undeserving or unqualified what they seek)still works with one European audience(Nobel) but not another(Olympic).
Oh, and Bush really didn’t win in 2000? That old canard? Is Sen. Gore still down there counting? He’ll have to log some Florida time starting about now, to stay out of the cold!
Clark:
Let’s take an inventory:
Punaho High School: Admitted. Deserved it? I dunno
Occidental College: Admitted. Deserved it? I dunno
Columbia U. Transfer App: Admitted. Deserved it? Can’t see transcript
Harvard U. Law Sch: Admitted. Deserved it? Can’t see transcript
Harvard Law Review: Elected in racial lockup as darkhorse–no record, didn’t write anything
Ill. State Senate: lotsa “not presents”
U.S. Senate: lotsa “not presents”
Pres race: “Hope & Change”, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for” and “I’m nor Bush”(he wasn’t running)
Nobel Prize: awarded 11 days after sworn in. Deserves it? The Appeaser in Chief?
We’ll see.
Conor,
I’m not interrupting “debate and discussion”; I’m positing a legitimate point of view: that whether or not Barack Obama won the Nobel Prize is pretty much irrelevant, and I think it’s dumb that so many people are focusing so much on this.
@ Noah
“I don’t care” is not a legitimate point of view.
“This is the first affirmative action presidency”
Now I’ve heard it all. I’m so glad this collective Republican convulsion has exposed the pathological hatred of our President for what it really is.
Yes Tyler, we’re disturbed Obama won the prize because we’re racists. You got us.
Tyler:
I spent nearly 1000 words explaining mainstream opposition to his receipt of the Nobel Prize – but suddenly because of a commenter, were ‘pathological opposition’ ?
I’m pretty sure a full article better explains our feelings than a sentence from a commenter, but go ahead: go accuse us of racism, I’d love to see you explain how anything I said was rascist or represents a “racist” republican party.
@Noah: simply because so many people are talking about it warrants discussion. To say its not important is to ignore decades of honor for its recepients.
Conor:
Yup, you heard it here first. The Barack Hussein Obama presidency(note to liberals: you loved to mock Nixon by using his “MIlhouse” so now it’s tit for tat!)is the full flower, for good or evil, of the anti-American and anti-constitutional practice of affirmitive action.
In early Novermber, Gertrude turned to Hazel and said,” I don’t really like McCain all that much. He looks old. The well-spoken black man, he sounds so nice and confident.” (Hazel breaks in with, “Well what do we know about him, what’s he done?” and Gertrude says” I don’t know, but he sounds so good.”) Remember Biden’s backhanded slap at Jackson and Sharpton: Something about Barack being clean & neat? This is all a bad dream!
And now his one(1) accomplishment(shall we call it that?) is to appoint this Sotomayor to the Supremes, and her only memorable offering to jurisprudence is that “wise Latina woman” claptrap–issue: affirmative action: Brown uber alles!
So we’ve come all the way back to this Presidency being the affirmartive action presidency. You heard it here first(Conor: Aren’t you glad I come here?).
You’ll hear it from Krauthammer next week or next month, but you heard it here first.
affirmative action: Brown uber alles!-congrats your a border line racist. and as for the post where you list all the schools Obama went to and if he deserved them the Bush deserve to go to Yale? O wait thats right daddy gave lots of money and also went there.(there affirmative action and there is legacy which is just as bad.) I am sure we all know kids who go to our schools who shouldnt have even got a GED because some family members also went to the same school and gave money.
Dear Clark:
You’re calling me the racist? That’s rich!
Here’s how it works: Let’s scoop up a certain number of brown kids( because they’re brown) and let ‘em in Penn State or Harvard because they’re brown. That’s brown uber alles. I’m mocking it.
Old and Decrepit, what point are you making specifically?
By brown you are excluding Indians correct? Because if you look at the numbers we and Asians in general are the groups that feel the most discrimination due to affirmative action policies.
I guess, last time I checked, If you mean the kind of Indians who hail from south of China, they present the opposite problem; let’s call it “the Stanford problem.”(with Asians) You start admitting them according to merit, no one else gets in. That’s a different problem.
“Om,” is that Indian like south of China Indian? NIce to meet you, Om.
I’m Old & Decrepit.
BTW Om I’m glad you’re here. It’s been awfully lonely on this Politicizer these last two days. Where is everybody? Off at the Gay March? Are you all about finished meeting all those new people and exchanging numbers? Can we get back to politics, now?
Nice to meet you O&D,
Yes I am Asian Indian, and I see no problem with the taking over of schools by a certain race. It’s called comparative advantage. Many Indians and Asians dominate science and math related fields, but are absent in all the social sciences. We are really good at things we specialize in.
As for where everyone else is I assume they being college students are wrapped up in midterms like myself, and yes marching for gay rights.
Om: Midterms suck, and so do gay marches where nobody shows up, nothing happens, everyone affirms everyone else’s warped beliefs, and phone numbers are exchanged.
The topic on this thread should be the absurd award of the Nobel to Barack Hussein for no accomplishment, and whether or not that is now the high water mark of his affirmative action presidency.
I really don’t care if Stanford fills up with Asians admitted on merit: might be interesting, except for the fact that it enjoys a tax exemption under US tax law, and therefore should be more obliging to US taxpayer families than internationals. That never gets talked about but should seemingly be taken into account somehow.
Is anybody on this board? Back from the gay march yet?
Om:
Either everybody slept over at the Gay March, or everybody scrambled home for a mid-term. Either way there’s nobody here.
I don’t believe I could have scared everyone off.
Barack H. winning the Nobel is the college equivalent of awarding the valedictorian at the college of your choice by giving it to a freshman who’s been in school 1 1/2 weeks–and you don’t even look at his HS transcript, instead you award it on the basis of an essay on his application(“I will do great at your school because…)
The Nobel is dead. It’s been killed by the Committee responsible for awarding it.
This is the presidency that’s the apotheosis of affirmative action: unqualified, and now proving incompetent.
Om:
I figured it out. I know what must’ve happened.
Around the time Yasser Arafat won the Nobel, they secretly renamed the Nobel Peace Prize to the Nobel Piece Prize. This was done to more accurately honor Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. The idea was that worldwide the award had been misunderstood. It was really to be awarded to the person in the world that year who had done the most to shoot, cut, or explode as many humans as was possible into as many pieces as possible.
So then Yasser Arafat shows up at the UN as an honored speaker, wearing his crossed cartridge belt on his chest and his picnic table-cloth hat, and the Nobel Committee of the time got the idea: “Hey, his organizations in the MIddle East are really good at finding teenagers who will blow themselves to pieces, and while they’re doing it they’re usually in a pizza shop or on a bus in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, and they blow as many Jews into as many pieces as is technologically possible. This is in fulfilment of the dream of Alfred Nobel.”
So Barack didn’t really win the Nobel Peace Prize, he really won the Nobel Piece Prize, because he’s going to get us all blown to pieces!
They just forgot to tell us.