Obama and the cheapened Nobel Peace Prize

There was a time when winning the Nobel Peace Prize was a badge of honor that the recipient and their country could point to with pride.

That is no longer the case with the announcement Obama has won, based not on accomplishment, but on "promise".

The committee cited his promise and goals, and accepted his nomination after only 12 days in office. Submission of nominations deadline was February.

The world gasped this morning with the announcement, few believe the prize had merit.

As for the educated, it was quite a different story as disbelief circled the globe faster than the drop in the presidents poll numbers. Even the Muslim community which was mentioned by the committee believe the award undeserved and premature.

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and opposes a peace treaty with Israel, said the award was premature at best.

"Obama has a long way to go still and lots of work to do before he can deserve a reward," said Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri. "Obama only made promises and did not contribute any substance to world peace. And he has not done anything to ensure justice for the sake of Arab and Muslim causes."

"EMBARRASSING JOKE"

Issam al-Khazraji, a day laborer in Baghdad, said: "He doesn't deserve this prize. All these problems -- Iraq, Afghanistan -- have not been solved...The man of 'change' hasn't changed anything yet."

Liaqat Baluch, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a conservative religious party in Pakistan, called the award an embarrassing "joke."

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5981JK20091009?sp=true

Comment: absurd decision on Obama makes a mockery of the Nobel peace prize
Rarely has an award had such an obvious political and partisan intent. It was clearly seen by the Norwegian Nobel committee as a way of expressing European gratitude for an end to the Bush Administration, approval for the election of America’s first black president and hope that Washington will honour its promise to re-engage with the world.

Instead, the prize risks looking preposterous in its claims, patronising in its intentions and demeaning in its attempt to build up a man who has barely begun his period in office, let alone achieved any tangible outcome for peace.

East-West relations are little better than they were six months ago, and any change is probably due largely to the global economic downturn; and America’s vaunted determination to re-engage with the Muslim world has failed to make any concrete progress towards ending the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

There is a further irony in offering a peace prize to a president whose principal preoccupation at the moment is when and how to expand the war in Afghanistan.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6867711.ece

Analysis: He won, but for what?

For one of America's youngest presidents, in office less than nine months — and only for 12 days before the Nobel nomination deadline last February — it was an enormous honor.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_nobel_analysis_1

He was nominated 12 days into his presidency!! Since then he has destroyed the morale of the troops fighting two wars, who have no clear guidance of what they are trying to accomplish nor how they are to do it.

American troops in Afghanistan losing heart, say army chaplains

“The many soldiers who come to see us have a sense of futility and anger about being here. They are really in a state of depression and despair and just want to get back to their families,” said Captain Jeff Masengale, of the 10th Mountain Division’s 2-87 Infantry Battalion.

“They feel they are risking their lives for progress that’s hard to discern,” said Captain Sam Rico, of the Division’s 4-25 Field Artillery Battalion. “They are tired, strained, confused and just want to get through.” The chaplains said that they were speaking out because the men could not.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6865359.ece

Our disheartened troops that are dying every day while Obama dithers on an Afghan policy will certainly be uplifted that, despite no peace, their Commander-in Chief has won the Peace Prize!!

The award will never be viewed the same again. It has been cheapened beyond recognition and will never regain the status and esteem it once enjoyed.

So while the White House and American liberals on the fringe applaud the announcement, the rest of the world is aghast.

As an aside, Ghandi was nominated 5 times for his life's work......he never won.

http://washingtonroundup.blogspot.com/2009/10/obama-and-cheapened-nobel-peace-prize.html