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Chuckit · Oct 9, 2009, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by spacefreak

The only thing that's a bigger joke than Obama winning the Prize or the prize itself, is the portraying of this by the administration as some sort of surprise.

Well, everyone in this thread seems to be surprised.

ort888 · Oct 9, 2009, 01:26 PM

Breaking news...

Obama has been awarded the Cy Young award for his ceremonial first pitch at this years All-Star game.

kido331 · Oct 9, 2009, 01:46 PM

stupendousman · Oct 9, 2009, 01:49 PM

I think people at the White House are monitoring my PWL posts...

Surprised and Humbled, President Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize - ABC News

Two key White House aides were both convinced they were being punked when they heard the news, reported ABC News' George Stephanopoulos.

"It's not April 1, is it?" one said.

Originally Posted by Eug

What's the world coming to?

Most of the lefties and righties alike in this forum agree on this issue. THE END IS NIGH!!!11

Because you really don't have to disparage Obama in this case. It's not his fault that the Nobel guys are playing politics. Unlike Carter, I don't think that Obama campaigned to get this award. Carter at least made a huge effort to do something worthy of winning the award (and made sure everyone who voted knew it

). Even if I disagree with his politics, I can see that he at least did things of substance for quite a long time in order to "earn" the award. Even if I wanted to send a "message", it would be less obvious a partisan message if they'd waited until AT LEAST he finished his first term in office.

He's already won the Nobel Peace Prize? Why keep going when you've already peaked?!

Originally Posted by ort888

Breaking news...

Obama has been awarded the Cy Young award for his ceremonial first pitch at this years All-Star game.

That's one of the first truly funny things you've said Ort, and I've really been paying attention.

SpaceMonkey · Oct 9, 2009, 01:52 PM

I hope he spends the money on some nice bling for that dog, who we've been hearing far too little about lately.

The Final Dakar · Oct 9, 2009, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by stupendousman

That's one of the first truly funny things you've said Ort, and I've really been paying attention.

Backhanded compliment of the day.

osiris · Oct 9, 2009, 02:07 PM

Damn. I want a Nobel Peace prize too.

ort888 · Oct 9, 2009, 02:08 PM

It's not even my joke. I stole it.

But hey, Stupendous man just said that he really pays attention to me. This means something.

osiris · Oct 9, 2009, 02:09 PM

I hear wedding bells....

dcmacdaddy · Oct 9, 2009, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by spacefreak

The only thing that's a bigger joke than Obama winning the Prize or the prize itself, is the portraying of this by the administration as some sort of surprise.

Huh?

Do you think the Obama Administration was sitting around expecting this award? Just waiting to add it to their collection of accolades for Super-Prez?

Hawkeye_a · Oct 9, 2009, 02:31 PM

I agree with the OP.

SpaceMonkey · Oct 9, 2009, 02:33 PM

Originally Posted by osiris

Damn. I want a Nobel Peace prize too.

I'm thinking of sending a letter to the Pulitzer Prize committee about this idea for a stage play that I haven't gotten around to developing into a script yet. You never know...

dcmacdaddy · Oct 9, 2009, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by ort888

Breaking news...

Obama has been awarded the Cy Young award for his ceremonial first pitch at this years All-Star game.

If we can get him an Oscar, Emmy, and Heisman Trophy in the next four years he'll be a true wonder.

The Final Dakar · Oct 9, 2009, 02:36 PM

And a Cable ACE Award.

SpaceMonkey · Oct 9, 2009, 02:38 PM

No BET award?

osiris · Oct 9, 2009, 02:38 PM

No People's Choice Award? Or Country Music Award?

dcmacdaddy · Oct 9, 2009, 02:47 PM

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey

No BET award?

Ahem . . . He only *claims* to be the first black President. Without a look at his birth certificate we cannot be sure of his racial identity.

Ha! Ha! Ha! This is too much fun.

Laminar · Oct 9, 2009, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey

I'm thinking of sending a letter to the Pulitzer Prize committee about this idea for a stage play that I haven't gotten around to developing into a script yet. You never know...

They hope that by awarding you the prize, it will spur you to live up to its meaning in the creation of your script.

Captain Obvious · Oct 9, 2009, 03:10 PM

Two pages and not one Kanye West joke?
This forum has gone downhill.

hyteckit · Oct 9, 2009, 03:21 PM

Yo Obama! I'm really happy for you, but MLK gave one of the best speeches of all time.

besson3c · Oct 9, 2009, 03:28 PM

So, I guess the glee that some Republicans felt over losing the Olympic bid (as Rush said: "the world voted against Obama") was short lived with this bit of news, huh?

hyteckit · 03:56 PM

Isn't the Nobel Peach Prize about giving great speeches and promoting change for the better?

MLK - 1964 Nobel Peace Prize

Martin Luther King - Biography

I thought the conservatives were saying for the past year that Pres. Obama is very good at speeches and promoting change.

Pres. Obama should thank conservatives for their vote.

Laminar · Oct 9, 2009, 03:55 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

So, I guess the glee that some Republicans felt over losing the Olympic bid (as Rush said: "the world voted against Obama") was short lived with this bit of news, huh?

Why does it always have to be us vs. them with you?

besson3c · Oct 9, 2009, 04:10 PM

Laminar: because I've given up on it being anything but that.

SpaceMonkey · Oct 9, 2009, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by dcmacdaddy

Ahem . . . He only *claims* to be the first black President. Without a look at his birth certificate we cannot be sure of his racial identity.

Ha! Ha! Ha! This is too much fun.

This is true. I miss the crazies.

Laminar · Oct 9, 2009, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Laminar: because I've given up on it being anything but that.

Oh, so you're done preaching to everyone about how they should be more logical and reasonable like you? And you're no-longer going to try and preempt any possible arguments from the other side before they come?

besson3c · Oct 9, 2009, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey

This is true. I miss the crazies.

I was reading that that Ori Taits (sp?!) woman behind the birther movement is a dentist. Wouldn't it be weird to go back to a dentist that was behind something like this?

hyteckit · Oct 9, 2009, 04:32 PM

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey

This is true. I miss the crazies.

Speaking of the crazies.

Pres. Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Price because they are afraid Obama won't be around in the next 2-3 years to see his achievements because of all the crazy rightwing, anti-government, gun toting nuts who chant succession and military coup.

besson3c · Oct 9, 2009, 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by Laminar

Oh, so you're done preaching to everyone about how they should be more logical and reasonable like you? And you're no-longer going to try and preempt any possible arguments from the other side before they come?

I strive for logical and reasonable, but I fail at that like everybody else. I'm done at preaching civil discourse, because it is clear that it is a waste of time.

Are you done with your frequent dissection of me? Are you Zimphire?

turtle777 · Oct 9, 2009, 04:44 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

So, I guess the glee that some Republicans felt over losing the Olympic bid (as Rush said: "the world voted against Obama") was short lived with this bit of news, huh?

In other words, Obama got a consolation price.

-t

Shaddim · Oct 9, 2009, 04:51 PM

Originally Posted by dcmacdaddy

Yup.

Hell, perennial nominee Bono could have picked up the award this year and it would have made more sense than Obama or Sarkozy being the winner.

This is me.

My wife walked in earlier and told me, "Bono should be pissed, he was robbed". That's all she said, nothing else.

Gee-Man · Oct 9, 2009, 06:27 PM

I too think it is premature for Obama to have won this prize. However, there is another angle to this that I believe most commenters have missed.

It is assumed by many that the Nobel Peace Prize is typically awarded to someone for specific accomplishments, when in fact, that has not always been the case throughout its history. Several people have won the award long before the fruits of their labor have even been realized - namely, MLK Jr. in 1964, Desmond Tutu in 1984 (9 years before the official end of apartheid in South Africa), Shimon Peres in 1994 (is there peace between Israel and Palestine yet?), and so on. The award isn't just for solving world peace - otherwise no one would ever receive it. It's for efforts to enhance world peace, even when those efforts haven't yet paid off.

And on that front, a credible argument can be made that Obama has made some significant contributions to that goal, even after 10 short months. His efforts towards nuclear non-proliferation both as a senator and as president, the advancing of talks towards Iran (with a small but important amount of progress just last week), the direct outreach by America to Muslim nations by being the first president to speak in a major Muslim nation's capital, and his honest attempts to broker agreements between Israel and the Palestinians all count towards these efforts, whether you agree or disagree with them.

Has he succeeded on any of these goals yet? No, of course not. But it's not unheard of for the Nobel committee to issue an award to someone essentially as a "we support you in these efforts, please keep going" kind of thing, and that's exactly what they've done here. Perhaps that's the political side of the Nobel Prize that conservatives despise soo much right now - but it's certainly not unprecedented. It's not like there haven't been controversial choices before, like Henry Kissinger and Yassar Arafat. But there are also non-controversial choices, like Desmond Tutu, MLK, Lech Walesa, and Mother Theresa, so the effort by some conservatives to paint the entire Nobel Prize process as a joke just doesn't ring true. Just because some folks you don't like have received it doesn't mean the entire effort is worthless.

Like I said, I personally believe it's premature. But I don't think what they've done is indefensible or outrageous, and there is a credible case to be made here for Obama to receive the award, even so short into his first term.

Arty50 · Oct 9, 2009, 08:49 PM

I'll give you a lot of that, but there are people on this planet who dedicate their entire lives to peace. So while Obama's actions may arguably have more impact because of his position, he's hardly a bastion of peace. For instance, how do you reconcile the fact that the Nobel Peace Prize was just awarded to a man who is actively running two wars?

This is just plain stupid. They should be picking people who dedicate their lives to the peaceful service of their fellow man; or perhaps more specifically, people who seek to spread peace through peaceful measures.

climber · Oct 9, 2009, 09:01 PM

Originally Posted by Gee-Man

... a credible argument can be made that Obama has made some significant contributions to that goal, even after 10 short months...

It is closer to 10 days than was 10 months. As was pointed out earlier, the nominations were submitted last February. This award is clearly targeted to what they hope or wish he does rather than what he actually did.

Gee-Man · Oct 9, 2009, 09:43 PM

Yes, the nominations were submitted last February. Obviously, if the award was given back then, it would have been even more premature. But the actual award was just given today. When voting, The Nobel Prize committee obviously considers the events that have occurred since the nomination, not exclusively those that happened beforehand. Otherwise, why would it take 9 months to announce the winner? I would like to know when the actual vote occurred, that's a far more important date than the nomination deadline.

So in short, no, his award isn't for 10 days of his presidency.

But I agree - it's clearly targeted at what they hope and wish he will do, rather than what he's finished accomplishing so far. This isn't exactly mysterious - the Nobel committee has stated this directly, and Obama himself said as much in his speech this morning. And my argument is that this kind of criteria for awarding a Nobel Peace Prize isn't unprecedented. Unusual, yes. But not without precedent.

hyteckit · Oct 9, 2009, 09:51 PM

Gee-Man, you nailed it!

Gold stars for you.

hyteckit · Oct 9, 2009, 10:03 PM

Response from the Nobel Peace Price Committee:

"Some people say - and I understand it - 'Isn't it premature? Too early?' Well, I'd say then that it could be too late to respond three years from now," Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, told the AP. "It is now that we have the opportunity to respond - all of us."

Read more at: Nobel Prize To Obama Defended (VIDEO)

The five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee - four of whom spoke to The Associated Press, said awarding Obama the peace prize could be seen as an early vote of confidence intended to build global support for the policies of his young administration.

"It is an award that speaks to the promise of President Obama's message of hope," Tutu said.

turtle777 · Oct 10, 2009, 01:40 AM

F**k all the explanation, Obama clearly deserved the Nobel Peace Price ever since he uttered the word "hope" for the first time.

Doesn't matter that he was probably about 2 or 3 years old at that time.

-t

Buckaroo · Oct 10, 2009, 02:54 AM

Ronald Reagan did more for peace then every Democrat recipient combined.

lpkmckenna · Oct 10, 2009, 03:15 AM

Buckaroo, you should go into comedy.

stupendousman · Oct 10, 2009, 06:13 AM

Originally Posted by ort888

It's not even my joke. I stole it.

But hey, Stupendous man just said that he really pays attention to me. This means something.

Please don't boil my bunny...

stupendousman · 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by dcmacdaddy

If we can get him an Oscar, Emmy, and Heisman Trophy in the next four years he'll be a true wonder.

You're joking, but that's not really funny. I do SERIOUSLY expect all of that and more. Obama already has a Nobel and Grammy. The Heisman is a stretch, but I'm not entirely convinced after the Nobel that he can't pull it out.

This article is from Feb 09. It's quite prescient. Al Gore is the perfect role model in this regard:

News Blog: Al Gore nabs elusive award triple crown: Oscar, Nobel, Grammy

Former vice president Al Gore keeps racking up the hardware in his campaign to fight global warming. First An Inconvenient Truth, his documentary on climate change, nabbed an Academy Award for best documentary. (Although the Oscar actually went to director Davis Guggenheim, Gore gave an acceptance speech.) Then he was awarded, along with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. And last night, to cap it all off, Gore's print version of An Inconvenient Truth won the Grammy for best spoken-word album, thanks to its release as an audio book.

Pres. Barack Obama, who has yet to collect an Oscar or a Nobel (but who boasts a better record in Florida politics than Gore), has brought home two Grammys in the spoken-word category himself for readings of his books Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope. In fact, the award is becoming a near-gimme for liberal politicians: between Gore, Obama, Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken, and former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, a Democratic pol has been in on the spoken-word Grammy in each of the last six years.

This is a perfect way for the crazy left to marginalize the "awards" they give out. Congrats!

stupendousman · Oct 10, 2009, 06:25 AM

Originally Posted by Buckaroo

Ronald Reagan did more for peace then every Democrat recipient combined.

The guy ended the cold war and years of nuclear military build-up, giving us a "peace dividend" that until those idiots in the middle east decided it was a good idea to go to start a war, gave the world more capitol to do good things.

Yeah. If this wasn't an award rigged for the far left to make partisan politics points off of, Reagan SHOULD have gotten it.

Dork. · Oct 10, 2009, 07:34 AM

Originally Posted by stupendousman

The Heisman is a stretch, but I'm not entirely convinced after the Nobel that he can't pull it out.

Football's not his game, though. It's more likely he'll win the NBA championship when he teams up with LeBron on the Knicks in 2010....

msuper69 · Oct 10, 2009, 09:21 AM

Those ever eloquent folks down under sure know how to speak the truth:

Why I’m with Hamas and the Taliban | Daily Telegraph Piers Akerman Blog

A good read.

Gee-Man · Oct 10, 2009, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by stupendousman

Yeah. If this wasn't an award rigged for the far left to make partisan politics points off of, Reagan SHOULD have gotten it.

I think you will never realize what you actually sound like when you write stuff like this.

Gee-Man · Oct 10, 2009, 05:43 PM

Originally Posted by Arty50

I'll give you a lot of that, but there are people on this planet who dedicate their entire lives to peace. So while Obama's actions may arguably have more impact because of his position, he's hardly a bastion of peace. For instance, how do you reconcile the fact that the Nobel Peace Prize was just awarded to a man who is actively running two wars?

The same way you reconcile the fact that the Nobel Peace Prize was established by the guy who invented dynamite. In other words, you'll just have to deal with the complexity of it.

turtle777 · Oct 10, 2009, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by Gee-Man

The same way you reconcile the fact that the Nobel Peace Prize was established by the guy who invented dynamite. In other words, you'll just have to deal with the complexity of it.

I think you will never realize what you actually sound like when you write stuff like this.

-t

Uncle Skeleton · Oct 10, 2009, 06:41 PM

Informed?

turtle777 · Oct 10, 2009, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton

Informed?

I think you will never realize what you actually sound like when you write stuff like this.

-t