This is kinda a surprise, to say the least.

CNN:
"President Barack Obama today won the Nobel Peace Prize for 'extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.'
...Obama had not been mentioned as a front-runner, and reporters gasped when he was named."

Should make for some interesting discussion.

Color me speechless.

I kinda hate logging into FB because of all the hate speech about this. Seriously, I question it as well, but as one article/editorial put it--the Nobel Peace Prize has been given many times to people who have "promised" change and not actually accomplished it. I haven't researched myself, but it sounds reasonable.

Drive it like you stole it, Barry!

I have a bunch of east coast pinko liberal friends, so could you share the facebook messages with us?

Obviously, the King of Norway did not get Jacque Rogge's memo in time.

I had thought the Olympics FAIL was the beginning of the end, though.

Hey remember what I said about Kiss being a no-brainer in Cleveland because it's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and not a Nobel Prize?

Scratch that.

Arafat springs to mind.

Holy shit I thought you were kidding Todd.

Did anyone do anything real peaceful this year?
I'm not saying it was an incredibly violent and depressing year, jut that their didn't seem to be any memorable diplomatic event besides Bubba Clinton and North Korea.
Most of the planet thinks Obama is probably worth the award for attempting to improve our diplomatic image after the Neo-Cons of the Dubya years.

Also, two words, one queef: Henry Kissinger.

Oh, & my nigga, Joshua Micah Marshall had this to say about the award, & more, the talking-heads blathering that it is richly undeserved.

"If that seems like a meager accomplishment to many of the usual Washington types it's a profound reflection of their own enablement of the Bush era and how compromised they are by it, how much they perpetuated the belief that it was 'normal history' rather than dark aberration".

/promo cut

I'm not sure if my smile is because of this award's potential to fortify a more sane atmosphere around the world; or if I'm grinning about all those nose hairs it pulled out of the haters.

I just think people hold too much value to the Nobel Peace Prize anyway. The quintessential symbol with unnecessarily massive, intangible meaning.

again, Gar, FTW

I like Barry, but it's bullshit. He's not stopped operations in Iraq, not closed Gitmo and is looking at possibly escalating things in Afghanistan. I know it takes time to do these things, but let's not mistake promises for actions. He may intend to address these things, but the awards need to be held until he actually walks the walk.

You didn't happen to write that SNL clip did you?
I agree it is BS, but as someone already stated, the value of this award is overstated in years like this one. It's the sort of award that should really be given out when there is a truly deserving candidate with near universal support, not just given to some politician who's the best of a bad bunch.
As for Iraq, Obama did set an August 2010 date for an end to "combat" operations. He did so in the month of February 2009.

if you can't discern this as a big euro-style fuck you to the Bush admin, you should be stripped of your thumb ring.

unfortunately it's also just about the worst thing that could happen to him politically stateside.

No idea what SNL clip you're talking about. And, I'm not saying he's not making some attempts at progress. Just that I'm not all that impressed until he actually gets the job done. I am still hopeful he will, but I'm nto a fan of giving out an award for what someone might do. I guess I do see the point though that the rest of the world noticed that the US was basically being run by a crazed war monger creating havoc across the globe, so just following Bush in office makes it look like some real positive movement.

I'm just among those who were hoping for more decisive action in getting out of the war on both fronts and have seen little to indicate getting out is anything but a pipe dream for the near future.

Just a sampling:



That's just a few that were on my immediate feed...

Couldn't agree more. This should not necessarily be an annual award, nor should it be limited to only one per year during those years where there are several truly deserving recipients.

Take that Bush.

they should have actually given a dual award to Bush and Cheney for advancing world peace by simply going away. nobel bitch slap.

That's the thing about the Party of No: when you don't have any ideas, when you're essentially nihists, you can twist anything to your whim. Chicago doesn't get Olympics: Barry O'Bomber is disdained by the international community as an empty-suit, trying to get by on a quick tongue (ibid. George Will). Osama bin Hawai'i wins the Nobel Peace Prize: he's still an empty-suit, but now the world community likes him?