You are not logged in. Please register or login.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
Re: ‘Humbled’ Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
NBC News and news services
updated 7:26 a.m. ET Oct. 9, 2009
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.
Speculation had focused on Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a Colombian senator and a Chinese dissident, along with an Afghan woman's rights activist.
The Nobel committee praised Obama's creation of "a new climate in international politics" and said he had returned multilateral diplomacy and institutions like the U.N. to the center of the world stage. The plaudit appeared to be a slap at President George W. Bush from a committee that harshly criticized Obama's predecessor for resorting to largely unilateral military action in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
NBC News reported that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called Obama with the news just before 6 a.m. Aides said the president felt "humbled" by the committee's decision.
'Captured the world's attention'
Rather than recognizing concrete achievement, the 2009 prize appeared intended to support initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.
"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," Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee said. "In the past year Obama has been a key person for important initiatives in the U.N. for nuclear disarmament and to set a completely new agenda for the Muslim world and East-West relations."
He added that the committee endorsed "Obama's appeal that 'Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.'"
President Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906 and President Woodrow Wilson won in 1919.
The committee chairman said after awarding the 2002 prize to former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, for his mediation in international conflicts, that it should be seen as a "kick in the leg" to the Bush administration's hard line in the buildup to the Iraq war.
Five years later, the committee honored Bush's adversary in the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore, for his campaign to raise awareness about global warming.
The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year's prize though it was not immediately apparent who nominated Obama.
"The exciting and important thing about this prize is that it's given too someone ... who has the power to contribute to peace," Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said.
Nominators include former laureates; current and former members of the committee and their staff; members of national governments and legislatures; university professors of law, theology, social sciences, history and philosophy; leaders of peace research and foreign affairs institutes; and members of international courts of law.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33237202/ns … ?GT1=43001
Re: ‘Humbled’ Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Please remove the bold part... 
Can't rename thread.
- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: ‘Humbled’ Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
He's been blocked by Congress every step of the way. I think the Nobel people are trying to sway some foreign leaders, and perhaps even Congress, to work with the US and try to compromise. Obama didn't earn this but I think he does deserve credit for reaching out to other nations and trying to re-build our soft international power.
Re: ‘Humbled’ Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
He's been blocked by a Congress controlled by his own party because they know that the "change" he campaigned for was in now way realistic or even possible. They just didn't want to say anything about it until he was elected.
Re: ‘Humbled’ Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Nag, nag, nag...
Be happy that you have an actually elected President that isn't a living war machine. If anything this should pressure him into doing what he's promised and deliver thereafter.
Re: ‘Humbled’ Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
It's the Nobel Peace Prize, not the Greatest American President Award! Who normally gets it, some scientist who discovered cloning or something..? Unless you're going to give it to the Dalai Lama or Pope every year, nobody probably did more for peace throughout humanity than Obama. I'm not saying he's great, or all hail Obama, but c'mon it doesn't matter what he's done as President of the US or what bills he passed or were shot down, it's a global award for peace I presume.
