President Barack Obama wins the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

President Barack Obama at Wayne High School during the 2008 campaign.  Photo courtesy of Dan Jehl.

This morning’s news, but interesting nonetheless.

Weigh in on the poll to the left, just underneath the banner.  Press release from The Norwegian Nobel Committee:

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

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. 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.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The Committee endorses 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.”

Oslo, October 9, 2009

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4 COMMENTS

  1. Some contend that this Nobel prize should, for this one, be named the “Nobel Piece Prize”, since Obama’s administration has found a method to take a “piece” of every working citizen in the US of A, with many, many more to come!

    • I hadn’t heard this before John. I think the question that is on everyone’s mind is, does this limit his options in Afghanistan? The other question is, what has he really done to deserve this? Especially when you consider the fact that this decision would have been made shortly after his election… The only thing that came out of that was election-fatigue for those of us who sat through 2+ years of campaigning. It’s way too early in his Presidency and could end up being the classic Albatross around his neck.

      Please understand, I’m not knocking the man. I honestly didn’t “get” all the hype during the election and thus far, it’s too early to be judging anything. Only thing for sure is that I would not want to be in his shoes. Mark my words, if he were to fail or run into problems, he’ll fall off that mantle faster than a blogger drawn to a questionable garbage contract and crush us all. Are we/have we set him up for disaster? Only time will tell and I truly wish him well.

  2. Stephen,

    Are you discounting bloggers on how they’ve handled the garbage “trash contract?” Without one or two of them, we’d still be in the dark. Especially AWB, he’s been on top of this. I like your site, it’s informative when it comes to catching up on all the city press releases, but there’s hardly anything in the way of “editorialized content.”

    • Joe – If you took that as a slam against AWB, then you’re about the farthest from the intent of the comment as possible – it was simply a humorous comparison.

      I could very easily say that you are slamming me and the blog because of the lack of “editorialized content”. I know that’s not what you meant. I don’t post a lot of my opinions on this blog because that’s not the goal here, it’s not the focus. The focus of this blog is to provide the basic facts, press releases, interviews in their entirety with no spin, no personal opinions – just the facts in an unbiased, no agenda, matter of fact manner. And I might add, if someone wants to put forward their view point, I am always open to including it, as I have on occasion. So, if you’re looking for “editorialized content”, it’s not here and I’m not going to apologize for the lack of it.

      Are you saying that because I have hardly any “editorialized content” that my blog is somehow less than the others? Again, I don’t think that’s what you meant, however, a blog is whatever the author chooses to make of it.

      In the instance of the garbage contract, I haven’t written anything about it because Dan and FWP has done a great job of covering the issue. Frankly there’s not a lot I can add.

      I would say that your comment, highlights why there is little “editorialized content” on this blog. Why is it that people go from zero to offended in 1 second flat? I don’t mind a healthy debate, but when people take things so personally and out of context, almost as if they’re looking for a fight, it’s no longer a debate, but rather an argument and I have better things to do with my time.

      Further comments will only be accepted about the post’s topic – that of President Obama’s winning the 2009 Nobel Peace (or Piece as John states) Prize.

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