Obama awarded 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

[Raineyrocks]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/09/nobel.peace.prize/index.html 

Obama awarded 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

updated 29 minutes ago
 

(CNN) -- President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, a stunning decision that comes just eight months into his presidency.
Less than nine months into his presidency, Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it honored Obama for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

The president had not been mentioned as among front-runners for the prize, and the roomful of reporters gasped when Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the Nobel committee, uttered Obama's name.

The president, who was awakened to be told he had won, said he was humbled to be selected, according to an administration official.

The Nobel committee recognized Obama's efforts to solve complex global problems including working toward a world free of nuclear weapons.

"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.

Jagland said the decision was "unanimous" and came with ease.

He rejected the notion that Obama had been recognized prematurely for his efforts and said the committee wanted to promote the president just it had Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 in his efforts to open up the Soviet Union.

"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," it said.

Obama's recognition comes less than a year after he became the first African-American to win the White House. He is the fourth U.S. president to win the prestigious prize and the third sitting president to do so.

Jagland said he hoped the prize would help Obama resolve the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Video Listen to Jagland explain why Obama was this year's choice »

Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, last year's laureate, said it was clear the Nobel committee wanted to encourage Obama on the issues he has been discussing on the world stage.

"I see this as an important encouragement," Ahtisaari said.

The committee wanted to be "far more daring" than in recent times and make an impact on global politics, said Kristian Berg Harpviken, director of the International Peace Research Institute.

And Wangari Muta Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist who won the 2004 Peace Prize, said the win for Obama, whose father was Kenyan, would help Africa move forward.

"I think it is extraordinary," she said. "It will be even greater inspiration for the world. He has shown how we can probably come together, work together in a cooperative way."

The award comes at a crucial time for Obama, who has initiated peace missions to key parts of the globe.

Obama's envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, has returned to the region to advocate for peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Mitchell met Thursday with Israeli President Shimon Peres. He plans to meet Friday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before talking with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton starts a six-day trip to Europe and Russia on Friday. On the trip, the secretary will discuss the next steps on Iran and North Korea, and international efforts to have the two countries end their nuclear programs.

The centerpiece of the trip will be her visit to Moscow, where she will work toward an agreement to take the place of the Start II arms control pact, which expires December 5. She also will address the new bilateral presidential commission that is working on a broad range of issues, from arms control to health.

Mohamed ElBaradei, who won the 2005 peace prize for his efforts to prevent nuclear energy being used for military means, said Obama deserved to win for his efforts to bring Iran to the table for direct nuclear talks with the United States.

"I could not think of anybody who is more deserving," said ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Video Listen to ElBaradei react to the announcement »

As the news of Obama's win broke online, postings on social network sites Twitter and Facebook expressed surprise. Many started with the word: Wow.

The last sitting U.S. president to win the peace prize was Woodrow Wilson in 1919. The other was Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. Jimmy Carter had been out of office for more than two decades when he won in 2002.

This year's Peace Prize nominees included 172 people -- among them three Chinese dissidents, an Afghan activist and a controversial Colombian lawmaker -- and 33 organizations, the highest number of nominations ever.
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The deadline for nominations must be postmarked by February 1 each year. Obama was inaugurated on January 20.

The Nobel recipient receives a prize of about $1.4 million.

[Kat Kanning]

[Lloyd Danforth]

It makes sense when you understand where it's coming from. They awarded him based on his rhetoric.  It seems liked they jumped the gun, but, a year from now he will own whatever Hell the US military is involved in a year from now.

[Ogre]

Bah. This prize has been worthless for many, many years now. Personally, I thought it utterly worthless the year it was awarded to Arafat.

[Bill St. Clair]

"President Obama, I'm gonna let you finish... but Beyonce brought more peace to the world than you done." -- Kyle Bennett

[keith in RI]

i just read the story 2 days ago of the woman al gore beat out. she saved like 2000 children from the warsaw ghetto and al gore made a movie!! i think her name is Irena Sendle...

i wonder what obama is going to do with the monetary award that comes with it. i think its something like 1.5 million...... can he legally accept that money??

[KBCraig]

When did The Onion take over the Nobel committee?

[CJS]

When did The Onion take over the Nobel committee?

If only it was an onion piece .. lol

Ridiculous .... bordering on disgusting. He was an absent rep here in Illinois and I do not see anything of substance he has accomplished in the white house.   The peace prize ?????  I'm with Kat .. the Nobel is not worth much anymore.

I am in physical therapy following surgeries on my shoulder and wrist .. the place I am going is the best I have found in the area and do not want to wear my welcome out there . I bite my tongue when they talk about socialized medicine and such as they are Chicago liberals ... but today I spoke up . 

I simply asked if they all realized that he and those around him are socialists and have only one desire .. to "REDISTRIBUTE" our wealth .. meaning our earnings . I said I do not want to argue politics  , just want them to think about that ... that the democratic party is now openly socialist and how do they feel about the tax burden we will all surely face if they get the things they want.

I just can't stand how so many intelligent people are so @@@@@@@@ stupid . I seriously fear for my mental health living in this locale .. they just are unable to understand the concept of personal liberty and responsibility . So happy I can surf here and hear people speak my language .

[jerryswife]

Hey, Kat, that was precisely my response!

[Sovereign Curtis]

postmaster@nobel.no

[AntonLee]

in other news, I just became the president's Fitness Czar.

[memenode]

Earth 2009: A place where you win prizes for advancing peace by presiding over two wars and a monopoly on violence.

So when do we take off this lunatics infested rock?

[dalebert]

"When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means the sun is about to set."
-- Lyn Yutang

[BillKauffman]

When did The Onion take over the Nobel committee?

If only it was an onion piece .. lol

Ridiculous .... bordering on disgusting. He was an absent rep here in Illinois and I do not see anything of substance he has accomplished in the white house.   The peace prize ?????  I'm with Kat .. the Nobel is not worth much anymore.

I am in physical therapy following surgeries on my shoulder and wrist .. the place I am going is the best I have found in the area and do not want to wear my welcome out there . I bite my tongue when they talk about socialized medicine and such as they are Chicago liberals ... but today I spoke up . 

I simply asked if they all realized that he and those around him are socialists and have only one desire .. to "REDISTRIBUTE" our wealth .. meaning our earnings . I said I do not want to argue politics  , just want them to think about that ... that the democratic party is now openly socialist and how do they feel about the tax burden we will all surely face if they get the things they want.

I just can't stand how so many intelligent people are so @@@@@@@@ stupid . I seriously fear for my mental health living in this locale .. they just are unable to understand the concept of personal liberty and responsibility . So happy I can surf here and hear people speak my language .

http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/2009/09/28/truth-power-obama-socialist-reflections-degradation-politics-ecosystem-robert-jensen

excerpt:
Obama is not only not a socialist, he's not even a particularly progressive capitalist. He is part of the neo-liberal camp that has undermined the limited social-democratic character of the New Deal consensus, which dominated in the United States up until the so-called "Reagan revolution." While Obama's stimulus plan was Keynesian in nature, there is nothing in administration policy to suggest he is planning to move to the left in any significant way. The crisis in the financial system provided such an opportunity, but Obama didn't take it and instead continued the transfer of wealth to banks and other financial institutions begun by Bush. Looking at his economic advisers, this is hardly surprising. Naming neo-liberal Wall Street boys such as Timothy Geithner as secretary of the treasury and Lawrence Summers as director of the National Economic Council was a clear signal to corporate America that the Democrats would support the existing distribution of power and wealth. And that's where his loyalty has remained.

[Puke]

Just fucking disgusting.