Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize - why?

[rockdawg21]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33237202...cs-white_house

He won for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

According to this, all one has to do is make an attempt and you can win a prize. So, if I were to JUST make an attempt at earning my doctorate in physics, then I should be given the degree. Does that make any sense? Businesses don't award for effort, but RESULTS. The Nobel Prize is a joke.

Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize
Committee says president gives world’s people ‘hope for a better future’

updated 40 minutes ago

OSLO, Norway - President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Obama's name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.

"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," the committee said. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."
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The committee said it attached special importance to Obama's vision of, and work for, 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.

Record number of nominations
Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson won in 1919. Former President Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002, while former Vice President Al Gore shared the 2007 prize with the U.N. panel on climate change.

The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year's prize.

In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses."

Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, he said the peace prize should be given out by a five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Sweden and Norway were united under the same crown at the time of Nobel's death.

The committee has taken a wide interpretation of Nobel's guidelines, expanding the prize beyond peace mediation to include efforts to combat poverty, disease and climate change.

That's some bullshyt right there.

Congratulations my American friends. It must be so amazing knowing that you have such a great man like Barack Obama leading your nation. He is not only a great leader for your country but for our entire world. Too bad you only have about 7.5 more years of this. Maybe they will change the laws and have the presidency changed to unlimited terms. I guess that is wishful thinking for you and the rest of the world.

[NateR]

Clearly the Nobel Peace Prize is a joke.

[MattHughesRocks]

It was just said on the news that he was chosen for it about 12 days into his presidency.

[NateR]

Even Obama is skeptical that he's done enough to deserve the Nobel. But of course, he's just being humble. Maybe they should give him a second Nobel Peace Prize for inspiring the world with the humility in which he accepted his first Nobel Peace Prize.

Anyways, they gave one to Yasser Arafat so how prestigious could it possibly be?

Originally Posted by NateR

Even Obama is skeptical that he's done enough to deserve the Nobel. But of course, he's just being humble. Maybe they should give him a second Nobel Peace Prize for inspiring the world with the humility in which he accepted his first Nobel Peace Prize.

Anyways, they gave one to Yasser Arafat so how prestigious could it possibly be?

Hey if humility is a criteria then my vote goes to ChrisF!

Originally Posted by NateR

Clearly the Nobel Peace Prize is a joke.

it is a joke....do some google searching to find out who has won in the past. Most are for efforts made .....not actual accomplishments.

[adamt]

it's relative....

who defines peace?

didn't the atom bomb lead to more peace than anything else in history has.... it ended the war of all wars right?

This might be as bad as Al Gore getting it instead of the lady that smuggled countless children out of the path of the Nazis.