Peace In Our Time
This takes a lot of the heat off. The big question is, who nominated him. Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Mullah Omar?
Hang on, he hasn’t actually accomplished any peace, or much else yet, though he has had several schools named after him and has promoted accord to the extent schoolchildren weren’t pelting each other with spitballs while they were singing about him.
It’s well established that the Nobel Peace Prize judges don’t require any actual peace (Jimmy Carter), any intention of fostering peace (Yasser Arafat) or even more than the stated desire to thwart a highly theoretical future conflict (Al Gore) as preconditions for bestowing the coveted prize. In fact, if you look at some of the prior nominees (Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin) you can see that rampant imperialistic war-mongering gets you in the game. But the Norwegian Nobel Committee members have set the bar of conditions approximating peace very high in recent years and are now in the position of having to top themselves.
Giving the award to a president who is in the process of or on the verge of ceding to belligerents in at least three highly volatile geopolitical arenas neatly accomplishes that, and coming at the beginning of Obama’s term, will encourage people view his actions and their consequences in terms of “peace.”
It also makes up for the gross slight to Neville Chamberlain in 1938.
OK, enough kidding around. Here’s what he actually got it for:
“ … his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”
Jinx! Ha ha, no really, just kidding. So it turns out that box set of DVDs was more considered than all the wags thought. Looks like the committee’s reasoning also encompasses keeping his yap shut while the Basij militia was striving for cooperation between people in Tehran’s Azadi Square last June.
HotAir: “In other words, they gave him the prize for being Hopenchange-y.”
Michael Graham: “What do Barack Obama and Yasser Arafat have in common? They both hung out with anti-Semites who think Israel should be pushed into the sea.” That and … you know.
Riehl, with the full text, cautions, “Try not to throw up in your mouth!”
Reynolds, hurtfully, “Not bad for a guy who’s been acting like Bambi caught in the headlights of hstory.”
Hyscience: “Obama’s Ignoble Prize …” No no, the “Ig Nobels” are those joke awards they give away for silly … never mind.
Spoilsports at the Times of London: “Absurd decision on Obama makes a mockery of the Nobel peace prize.” Too late, observes Reynolds.
Tweet, via Tigerhawk: “YO OBAMA, I’M GONNA LET YOU FINISH, BUT I JUST WANNA SAY THAT MARTIN LUTHER KING JR WAS THE BEST NOBEL PRIZE WINNER OF ALL TIME.”
Tigerhawk also accurately observes that the real fun today is going to be on the left half of the blogosphere.
Peace, dude
Wow, that was fast! President Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize.
I am sure many Americans (and others) will be thinking “It’s too soon. He hasn’t done anything yet!” Or even “Dude can’t even pass health care already, but he’s been elevated to international sainthood?”.
But this isn’t about domestic politics, or about what he’s done yet. President Obama has changed how the world feels about America. He’s lifted the planet’s mood. This guy is global Prozac.
There’s more to it than just the Bush presidency being a total downer for everyone in the world who cares about multi-lateralism or just wants to do business with the US. The tidal wave of bad faith Bush’s presidency created washed away any chance of progress in so many international initiatives.
Obama’s not a game changer per se, but he’s changed how people feel about playing the game, or whether they even want to.
You know, I pretty much agree with almost all of that. The tidal wave of bad faith that Bush’s presidency had to deal with did wash away so much that could have been accomplished. Obama is like Prozac. A bit of a pill, and if you swallow it, you’ll think your problems have gone away.
Brilliant at Breakfast is a little defensive:
Cue the wingnut howl!
Huffington Post gets the Nobel Koolaid Prize:
It would be hard to think of a more electrifying and deserved recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace prize than President Obama … Obviously, the award is based on the hope that Obama will achieve real progress in advancing diplomacy rather than confrontation around the globe.
The eloquent post continues on the “hope that Obama will achieve real progress” theme, artfully dodging the fact that he hasn’t yet.
Oops, pull back that Nobel Koolaid award. Andrew Sullivan just woke up:
Sorry, I was up till 2 finishing my column.
There’s a good night’s sleep he’ll never get back.
If any person has done more to advance some measure of calm, reason and peace in this troubled word lately, it’s president Obama. I think the Cairo speech and the Wright speech alone merited this both bridging ancient rifts even while they remain, of course, deep and intractable. He has already done more to heal the open wound between the West and Islam than anyone else on the planet.
I’d just add one caveat: the American people who elected him deserve part of the credit too. Now he needs partners to help him.
Group hug!
In thoughtful, considered academic reaction, I just heard a somewhat gobsmacked presidential historian Robert Dallek, having been woken up by NPR, opine that while this is somewhat early in the new president’s term and predates his greater accomplishments, it might help him pass health-care reform. NPR’s Juan Williams right now is audibly raising his eyebrows and acknowledging being “startled” while the host whose name escapes me at present counters with a couple of backflips to note the remarkable changedness of the international environment. Juan gets into the mood with a couple of observations about how Obama is now “in a league with Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela,” so maybe that will encourage people to let him to do stuff like they did. Something like that.
NPR host again, I think it’s Steve Inskeep, insightfully, “No one’s ever accused Barack Obama of being a late-bloomer.”
NPR reporter Scott Horsley now informs us Obama, when awoken by Robert Gibbs with the news at 6 a.m., was “humbled by the recognition.” Wow. Sounds like the Nobel Committee has accomplished more this year than Obama has.
Uh oh, Horsley opines that it won’t win any Republican votes for health care. Well, there’s still Mullah Omar. Maybe he’ll vote for health care.
Brit Rob Gifford suggests Obama gets points for “changing the tone,” which prompts Inskeep to go adversarial with the observation that “Maybe we do scratch our head a little and say, where’s the peace treaty?”
The BBC is now going to work on on some hapless Norwegian. The Beeb’s signature snidely insinuating adversarial style is working for a change: “So your view is that the Peace Prize should only go to what some might describe as a peace … nik.”
Worm turnage alert! Props to Comments from Left Field for playing against type:
By giving a peace prize to a president who hasn’t yet been in office for a year (indeed, he was nominated for the prize only two weeks after taking office), thus we haven’t seen the result of his policies in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Israel/Palestine (to mention nothing of the smaller hotspots, like Zimbabwe and China; or hotspots which could soon explode like another civil war in southern Sudan coupled with the genocide in western Sudan, otherwise known as Darfur), has the Nobel committee delegitimized itself by awarding a Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama?
Personally, I’d call China a big warm spot with possibly the greatest long-term thermal potential, Israel and the Palestinian areas a small simmering one that that would benefit from a little less boil-happy pot-watching by some parties, and Iraq encouragingly tepid, considering, but this is no time to quibble.
Topics: Obama
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 6:37 am on Friday, October 9, 2009
13 Responses to “Peace In Our Time”
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October 9th, 2009 at 7:27 am
It would seem that “peace” doesn’t mean what the Nobel Peace Prize Committee thinks it means.
October 9th, 2009 at 8:12 am
I imagine that even Obama is going, “WTF?”
October 9th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Confirmed! Here’s the leaked text of Obama being notified by IM that he is the recipient of the Peace Prize:
Emanuel: HLY F U GOT TEH MF PC PRIZ
Obama: HUH?
Emanuel: U GOT NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
Obama: SRSLY?
Emanuel: YAH
Obama: WTF?
October 9th, 2009 at 8:46 am
[...] JULES: “Hang on, he hasn’t actually accomplished any peace, or much else yet, though he has had several schools named after him and has promoted accord to the extent schoolchildren weren’t pelting each other with spitballs while they were singing about him.” [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 9:20 am
[...] Jules Crittenden: The big question is, who nominated him. Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Mullah Omar? Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)How do you know when the president is in trouble?…..quote of the day.The Hazards of Live TV: #24,987…Is Shannon High-Bassalik on the outs at MSNBC? [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 9:31 am
You know it’s bad when even Jennifer Loven of the AP questions why.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/ap/politics/2009/Oct/09/analysis__he_won__but_for_what_.html
October 9th, 2009 at 9:53 am
[...] Jules Crittenden: This takes a lot of the heat off. The big question is, who nominated him. Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Mullah Omar? [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 10:24 am
[...] II:More Opinions: Pat in Shreveport Jules Crittenden Michelle Malkin Erick Ed Morrissey Ace of Spades Gateway [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 10:59 am
[...] international community to shower praise on their Obamessiah for his bountiful hopey-changitude (Jules Crittenden is all over that). They’re not really sure what that is, except to say that it’s not George W. Bush who [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 11:28 am
[...] Jules Crittenden [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
[...] Jules Crittenden: It also makes up for the gross slight to Neville Chamberlain in 1938. [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
As far as I’m concerned, this is just one more stain on the Nobel Peace Prize, one more step down into the cellar of worthlessness.
October 9th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
[...] Jules Crittendon has a roundup of other reactions, who also points out the other less than helpful recipients the prize has gone out to. [...]